The Fifth Element
by SilverEyeShinobi
Summary: After befriending the band members of The Fifth Element, Tenten and her friends are dragged into the bands problems with a rival band causing a hell of trouble, as well as Neji's struggle with his uncle. NejiTen, ShikaTema, NaruHina, SasuSaku, ItachixOC
1. Chapter 1: Phase

**A/N: I'm going out of my mind. Ever since I found this fan fiction website, I've been obsessed with reading stories, and then writing them. This is the third (THIRD) one I've started since finding it. Hopefully writing three stories at once won't kill me.**

Chapter 1: Phase

Tenten had absolutely no idea where it came from.

"Oh my gosh, like, listen to this!" Temari shrieked from the back of her car.

This sudden craze for this...boy band Tenten called it.

"Eeee! His voice is so hot!" Sakura cried.

She didn't even remember the name of it.

"Tenten!" Temari's voice shouted in her ear, making her swerve. Tenten thanked the gods that they were on an empty street.

"Temari, don't do that to me!" Tenten cried. "I'm driving for crying out loud!"

"Okay okay. Listen to this song while you drive, and tell me the lead singer has an amazing voice." Temari protested, stuffing her iPod earphones in her ear.

Tenten sighed heavily and adjusted the phone so it fit more comfortably in her ear. "Fine, go ahead."

Tenten heard a few clicks, and the sound of light guitar hit her ears. Then the guitar got louder and Tenten flinched. She wasn't expecting the guitar part. Tenten wasn't one to listen to loud music, but Temari had told her to just listen to the lead singer. It was then that the guitar died down and the vocals began.

Tenten was awed. Never once in her lifetime has she heard such a clear and pure voice. It was like candy for the ears.

"Wow, that's-" then it hit her. His voice must be auto tuned. "Fake." She added.

"What?" Sakura and Temari cried in perfect unison.

"Nobody could possibly sing that perfectly." Tenten defended. "I'll bet these guys never play concerts!"

Sakura snorted. "Wrong, sister. They're coming to Konoha this week!"

Temari and Sakura shrieked with delight.

"I can't wait to see them live!" Temari cried.

"Yeah!" Sakura screamed.

"Guys..." A timid voice piped up suddenly. Temari and Sakura looked surprised. They were so caught up with their band that they had forgotten all about Hinata.

"You're giving me sore ears..." She said politely.

"Sorry Hina...Didn't mean to..." Temari told her.

"So, what the heck is this band called anyway?" Tenten asked.

Temari and Sakura bounced again.

But to Tenten's surprise, Hinata was the one who answered.

"The Fifth Element." Hinata said easily.

"Eh, what?" Tenten said, totally confused by the name. Was there even a fifth element?

Sakura squealed. "That's the name of the band!"

Temari looked at Hinata. "How did you know that? You never struck me as one to like a band like this."

Hinata hesitated. Tenten immediately knew there was some juicy gossip in her answer.

"U-Um...W-Well..." Hinata stared down at her hands as she brought her index fingers together again and again.

"It's all right Hinata." Tenten told her. "If it's tough information, you don't have to tell."

Temari sighed. "We can never get anything out of you."

Tenten parked her car in her drive way. The sleepover had begun.

Tenten stared at the album art on The Fifth Element's first CD.

"Aren't they just the smexiest things you've ever seen?" Temari said, bubbling with excitement.

"Uhh...smexy?" Tenten stared at the five people on the cover. "I'd call them good-looking, but smexy isn't a word I like to use..."

The five guys were side by side striking dramatic poses. It took Tenten a moment to realize there was some serious thought put into the poses. The poses were contrasted with each other, Tenten assumed to contrast their inner personalities. Tenten was good at reading people, the five boys on the album cover were no exception.

The one on the far left was leaning back slightly, tilting his head to the side, and had a hand in his jet black hair. His cheekbones seemed to pop out with the angle his head was at. Tenten found that bizarre. He wondered why he would want to show off his cheekbones. He was even looking straight at the camera with onyx black eyes. _Cocky._ Tenten thought instantly. _He's good-looking and he knows it._

Tenten turned her eyes to the next boy. This one was beside the cocky one, and also had jet black hair. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of baggy cargo pants, and his vest was unzipped. His hair was tied in a ponytail at the top of his head, giving him the appearance of a pineapple. His dark eyes eyed the camera with a bored expression. _Lazy. _Tenten thought. _I guarantee he thinks the whole photo shoot is a bother._

Tenten looked at the next guy and her heart just about leapt out of her chest. Tenten immediately knew that this one was the one with the lovely voice. His arms were at his sides, and he seemed tense, as his fists were clenched. He also had a bored expression on his face, like the boy next to him, except fire burned in his pale eyes. Where were his pupils anyway? Was he blind? No he couldn't be... Tenten looked up and eyed Hinata. _What's up with that? They have the same eyes..._ Tenten looked back down at the boy. His hair was long, and he wore all white. Tenten looked back at the boys eyes. It was then that she realized that it wasn't fires of passion that burned in his eyes, it was fury. Tenten just about dropped the CD case. _Short-tempered..._ Tenten thought faintly.

She quickly moved on to the next one. The next boy was blonde, and was actually grinning. One of his eyes were closed as if he were winking and he had one arm in the air, as if he had just conquered the most difficult task of his life. The one eye that was open was a dazzling shade of blue. Not only that, but he wore all orange. W_ell...He's definitely out-going..._ Tenten thought. _Maybe even a bit annoying._

Tenten moved on to the last one. This one looked a bit like the first one, without the full blown cockiness. He had his arms crossed across his chest, and his hair was also jet black. He had the same onyx eyes as the first one. Tenten couldn't see much more of this one. _Withdrawn._ Tenten thought simply.

She looked up from the case to see multiple pairs of eyes on her.

"Well?" Temari asked her. "You've been staring at that album cover long enough. You obviously think they're cute."

Tenten pointed to each boy individually, starting with the cocky one.

"This one's cocky. You can see it in his eyes. This one's lazy-"

"Don't insult my Shika!" Temari cried in horror.

Tenten rolled her eyes, and moved on to the next one. "Short-tempered."

Hinata giggled.

"Over-excited."

Hinata giggled again.

"And finally," Tenten pointed to the last one with a flourish. "Withdrawn."

She lazily tossed the case back at Temari who stared at her in horror. "You realize you just insulted every member of The Fifth Element?"

"So what if I did?"

"You don't even know them!" Temari cried.

"Neither do you." Tenten pointed out.

Temari clammed up.

Next thing Tenten knew, the room was filled with the sound of the lead singers voice. Tenten couldn't help but feel all the tension leaving her body.

_For someone so short tempered, he sure has a sweet voice._ Tenten thought to herself. Next thing she knew, she found herself getting interested in the members of this band.

"Who are these guys anyway?" Tenten asked suddenly.

The three girls looked at her like she had just grown two heads.

"You know what the bands' name is!" Sakura told her.

"Yeah I know what the band is called! What are their names?"

Temari and Sakura looked at each other and smiled.

"Another poor sucker." Temari taunted. "That's what Sakura here wanted to know after listening to their music. Believe me." Temari paused. "You won't be satisfied with just their names."

"You'll want to know everything about them." Sakura said evenly.

"Whatever. I hardly care anymore."

Sakura and Temari looked at each other.

"Welcome to The Fifth Element school." Sakura said with a smile.

**A/N: Ah! One chapter done! Now...Why not click on that shiny, shiny arrow down there to move onto the next one? I don't post a story until I at least have three chapters in already. It gives readers time to adjust, and inhale the story. And even currently as I write this...I have no ideas for a title...Hopefully while I'm writing the next few chapters, one will suddenly come to my head.**

**OH! And REVIEW please! I would be very grateful :)**

**-SilverEyeShinobi**

**SilverEyeShinobi Presents...The Fifth Element: Omake Theatre!**

**Episode 1: Tenten**

**Narrator: Meet Tenten.**

**Tenten: *waves***

**Narrator: Tenten is what you would call your average nineteen year old. She would be going to school right about now, but she didn't get into a university or college.**

**Tenten: HEY! It's not MY fault I'm not going to school! The writer never put it in!**

**Author: So true...**


	2. Chapter 2: Hooked

**A/N: Second chapter, one night. I hope my readers see how dedicated I am to my work :) Heck, I even forgot about school assignments I needed to finish just so I could write. It is a passion of mine, and I love writing very much. So much, that I really need to get out more... Shhhh! Just pretend you didn't hear that! Enjoy!**

Chapter 2: Hooked

"All right!" Sakura said as she sat me down in a chair in front of a computer screen. On that computer screen were several pictures of the members of The Fifth Element. It was their official website.

"Can we start with Shika?" Temari asked easily.

Sakura laughed. "Yes, we will start with Shika." Sakura clicked on a link. Immediately a blown up picture of the lazy boy popped up on screen. The boy was sitting easily on a curb, with his hands out in front of him, each of his fingertips pressed together with his thumbs pointing up. He was giving the camera a lazy smirk.

Temari swooned. "God, he's so cute."

"Since Temari is unable to do the introduction," Sakura began. "This is Shikamaru Nara. He plays one of the two guitars that are in the band. He also does some backup vocals, but only in certain cases. But he's best known for his...erm...what's the word for it? Outbursts?"

Temari laughed. "That's a good name for it. He's the one you hear echoing lyrics on occasion."

Tenten remembered one of the first songs she listened to. "Is he the one muttering rhythmically under his breath?"

"Yes! That's a perfect way to describe it!" Temari cried.

"Okay, next!" Sakura clicked on another link. The blonde appeared on screen sprawled out on a park bench giving the camera his signature wink, as well as a thumbs up.

"This, is Naruto Uzumaki. He's the drummer." Sakura explained.

Tenten recalled the insane drum solo in one of the songs. "He plays those complicated solos?"

"Yes!" Sakura said easily. Then she clicked another link. The cocky one appeared. He was sitting easily on the ground, leaning up against a rock. One of his knees was pulled up to his chest, his corresponding arm resting on his knee. His shirt was unbuttoned slightly, giving people who saw his picture a tentative glance at his perfectly toned chest. His onyx eyes gazed steadily at the camera, and his cheekbones were still highlighted.

"Why are his cheekbones highlighted?" Tenten asked suddenly.

"They're not." Temari told her. "They're like that."

"He's got strong cheekbones doesn't he?" Sakura complemented him, in a question that was actually a statement.

"So who is he?" Tenten asked.

"That, is Itachi Uchiha." Sakura told her. "He plays the guitar along side of Shikamaru. He is also a backup singer. You can usually hear him in the background on occasion when the song needs a bit of a lift. Or harmony."

Tenten nodded. She had heard a crisp voice, not as clear as the leads voice though, rumbling in the background several tones lower than the lead.

Sakura moved for the next link.

"No," Temari ordered. "Sasu next."

Sakura sighed for a moment, then she excitedly clicked the link. There he was. The withdrawn one. He was leaning casually against a wall with his arms crossed, and his head was tilted back slightly. He stared at the camera with a steady gaze.

It was Sakura's turn to swoon.

"This is Sasuke Uchiha. He plays bass." Temari explained. "He's actually Itachi's younger brother. Sasuke's about three years younger than Itachi."

"How old are the other guys?" Tenten asked.

"Shika is seventeen I think-"

"Eighteen...He's the same age as Sasuke remember?" Sakura sighed.

"Yes, eighteen. Naruto's the same age." Temari continued. "And our lead singer..."

Sakura sighed as she clicked the final link. Tenten wasn't surprised when the white-eyed boy appeared on screen. He sat on a fence with his hands in his lap. He gazed steadily away from the camera at something in the distance. His body was turned away from the camera as well. His hair and baggy white clothes blew in an eternal wind that existed only in his photograph.

"This, is Neji Hyuuga." Temari told her.

Tenten shot a look at Hinata. "You're related to this guy?"

Hinata went beet red.

Temari and Sakura looked at Hinata with shock.

"Why the heck didn't you tell us, girl?" Temari cried.

"Well...Um..." Hinata tapped her fingers together again. "I didn't tell you because I was worried that you'd ask me to introduce you to him..."

"That's all?" Sakura raised her eyebrow.

"Well...He's not exactly my brother or anything...he's my cousin...and our relationship isn't exactly good..." Hinata explained.

"Oh..." Sakura sighed.

"So...about this Neji guy..." Tenten began.

"Why don't you tell her, Hinata?" Sakura told her. "I mean, she already knows he's the lead singer. Oh and he's nineteen by the way."

"Yeah, nice to know..." Tenten muttered.

Hinata shook her head. "I really don't know much about him."

Sakura sighed. "Well, whatever. These guys are coming to concert this weekend!" She squealed.

Temari squealed with her. "I can't wait! Of course you're coming right Tennie?"

Tenten smirked. "If you want me to."

"She loves them already!" Sakura cried. "We've got competition."

"I don't think she's interested in Shika." Temari told her.

"Definitely not." Tenten replied.

Sakura laughed. "And stay away from Sasu!"

Tenten laughed.

"I have a feeling she has eyes for Neji though," Temari nudged Tenten with her elbow.

"D-Do you mind if I come too?" Hinata piped up so suddenly, that she startled the three gossiping girls.

"Sure Hina-chan!" Sakura said happily. "After all, your cousin is the lead singer."

"T-That's not why I want to come..."

Sakura and Temari let their jaws fall.

"No..." Temari gasped.

"But which one?" Sakura looked at Hinata.

"It can't be Itachi..." Temari said softly.

"Then it must be..."

Sakura and Temari smiled.

"Naruto!" They cried in unison.

Hinata went beet red in response.

* * *

Neji took a long drink from his water bottle. He sighed when he put it down. He couldn't believe how far their band had come from just being a normal garage band.

_Not even a garage band._ Neji thought to himself. Neji put the water bottle under the sink tap and filled it back up again before returning it to the fridge.

"Neji," Shikamaru walked into the kitchen. "We should rehearse about now. The concerts in three days."

Neji nodded. "Remember the first day we played in front of a group?"

Shikamaru smiled. "Yeah. I can't believe we got an encore."

"What was that?" Itachi walked in and immediately opened the fridge. He emerged with a large apple and took a bite out of it. Naruto and Sasuke walked in immediately after that.

"Neji was just reminiscing." Shikamaru explained.

"About what?" Sasuke sat down backwards in a chair, resting his arms on the back.

"The first concert we ever played." Neji told them.

In response, the group looked around at each other with smiles on their faces.

"It was all a joke." Itachi murmured taking a bite out of his apple.

"Something that Neji came up with when we were bored." Naruto continued.

"Who would have thought it would have turned out like this?" Shikamaru muttered, hoisting himself up onto the counter to sit on it.

"Out of the blue, Neji, you were like, 'hey, let's form a band and enter the school talent show!' and we all were just like, what?" Naruto chuckled.

"It was a good idea at the time." Neji said with a smirk. "We even threw together who would play what in about ten minutes, no auditions. Can you play guitar?"

"No," Shikamaru responded the same way he did back then.

They all started laughing.

"Come on." Sasuke stood up and headed for the garage. The group followed him in, and they immediately took up positions. Neji flung the mic cord away from his feet so he wouldn't get tangled.

"From the top." Neji called.

Naruto banged his drumsticks together to start the tempo, and at the final beat, the band lost itself amid the pounding drums and thrashing guitars.

**A/N: There you go! There's our lovely band! In fact the idea to form a band from Naruto characters came to me while I was walking home from school one day. I first started out with Shikamaru, Neji, and Naruto (their part in the band the same as above) and then I thought...Nah forget it. The story will all come out eventually. It's actually quite a story that I thought of as I came home...I've only done that once before. I created a whole world on the way home. Sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging, but I did. I wrote the whole thing down, created characters, and haven't even begun writing it XD. Ah well...Fan fiction will always be my passion.**

**REVIEW MEEEE! :D *puppy dog eyes* Please :( Thank you :)**

**SilverEyeShinobi Presents: The Fifth Element: Omake Theatre!**

**Episode 2: Internet**

**Naruto: Whoa guys! Come check this out!**

**Sasuke: What is it this time?**

**Naruto: We're on the internet!**

**Shikamaru: *scoffs* No duh, Naruto. We have our own website.**

**Naruto: No! I mean LITERALLY! We're ON the internet! *Turns computer screen around***

**Neji: *laughs at the sight of the entire group standing on top of the globe icon for the world wide web***

**Itachi: *chuckles* That's hilarious.**


	3. Chapter 3: Concert

**A/N: I've officially gone off my nut. Guess what time it is? 9:00 pm, and it's a school night! Usually I'm long in bed by now, but the ideas are just flowing! :D I love it, and hate it, when this happens! Usually I hate getting this many idea's when I don't have a keyboard beneath my fingers, but right now I do! So I'll make the most of it, and when my brain begins to get fuzzy, I will stop.**

Chapter 3: Concert

It was Saturday, and Sakura, Hinata and Temari were crammed in Tenten's car. All of them were wild with excitement.

"Hina-chan, have I told you how much I loved you yet?" Temari asked, giving Hinata another big hug.

"At least twenty times now Tema-san. You're bruising me." Hinata told her.

Temari let go.

Hinata had gone out of her way for the group for this concert. She had gotten backstage passes. BACKSTAGE PASSES! Not only were they going to see The Fifth Element in concert, they were going to be able to MEET them.

"Careful, Tennie-chan," Sakura told her. "Don't get us killed before the concert even begins!"

"I won't." Tenten laughed.

That was when they saw it. The local football field were the Konoha Raiders played was lit up like it was day time. People had already begun flooding the field.

"Hurry! We need to get good spots!" Sakura cried.

"Relax, Sakura." Temari told her. "Even if we don't get to see them play up close, we can always visit them back stage afterwards, remember?"

Sakura shivered. "I hope they like their fans..."

"I think," Tenten began. "The only one that won't suck up to everyone is Neji."

"What makes you say that?" Temari asked.

"Did you see his face on the album cover? If you look at his eyes, something's pissed him off."

There was a sudden scramble for the album they had brought with them. A few seconds later, there was an astonished cry.

"Oh my gosh you're right." Sakura gasped.

"That's scary..." Temari muttered.

"N-Neji can be like that..." Hinata explained as Tenten parked the car. "He can't stand it when people make him do something he doesn't want to do."

Tenten shrugged, and opened the door.

Everyone piled out of the car and made a beeline for the entrance to the field.

"Tickets?" The guard asked them upon approaching. The four girls flashed their tickets. The guard examined every one of them.

"I'm going to need to see your bags, please." The guard said.

Temari and Sakura sighed and handed over their bags.

Another guard came over. "Sorry, it's protocol." The new guard explained. Tenten just about jumped out of her socks at the sight of a huge German shepherd dog. The dog sniffed her all over, and then moved on to Hinata who looked petrified.

"It's all right, he won't hurt you." The guard told her.

"W-What's his name?" Hinata asked.

"Rae." The guard told her.

"N-Nice to meet you Rae..." Hinata told the dog.

After their sniff search and manual hand search through Temari and Sakura's hand bags, they finally walked onto the field.

Tenten reached into her pocket and pulled out four pairs of earplugs.

"Take these guys," She told them.

Hinata took a pair immediately, a look of relief washing over her face as she put them in. But Sakura and Temari stared at her like, well, she had grown another head.

"We're here to listen to these guys!" Temari protested.

"Tema-san, Saku-chan..." Hinata began. "Concerts are very loud...They'll ruin your ears...Besides, you can still hear well through Tenten's earplugs."

Tenten nodded. "I went to a store and asked them specifically for earplugs that were best for concerts. It muffles nothing more."

"I don't want to hear it muffled!" Sakura cried.

Hinata threw in another defence. "When it is muffled slightly, it takes away the bite. You can actually hear it better with earplugs."

Sakura and Temari took the earplugs and stuffed them in.

"Hey! You're right!" Temari cried. "I can actually hear you guys more clearly!"

"That's because it blocks out all the background noise." Tenten told them.

The four girls walked towards the stage.

* * *

"Sheesh, small crowd." Itachi said after peeking out across the field.

Shikamaru laughed. "Small crowd? We're not that popular yet."

"Good." Neji muttered. He took a long drink from his water bottle.

"I agree." Sasuke muttered. "So, who's in the crowd?"

"They're mostly female, just to let you know." Itachi muttered, strumming his guitar and tuning it gradually.

"Brilliant." Shikamaru sighed.

"Hey, it's not all bad." Naruto protested, juggling his drumsticks.

"You should walk out on stage doing that." Itachi told Naruto. "It'll bring us back to our High School years where we got laughed at for our stand up comedy."

The group shared a laugh.

"Maybe I will." Naruto said easily. He stuffed his drumsticks into his back pocket.

Naruto peeked out onto the vacant stage. The stage was dark, but the field was lit up like the fourth of July. Naruto turned back to the band. "How much longer until we're on?"

Itachi looked at his watch. "Five..."

"Four..." Shikamaru continued looking at his watch.

"Three," Sasuke added.

"Two," Naruto murmured.

"One."Neji finalized.

There was a loud click as the lights went out across the field. A few people screamed, but it was mostly gasps and cries of surprise.

"One by one now," Itachi told them.

"You first." Shikamaru told him.

Itachi grabbed Shikamaru and pushed him onto the stage. It wasn't even lit up yet, but Shikamaru knew where he was going. He picked his guitar up, without making a single noise and pulled it over his shoulders. Shikamaru pulled his pick from his pocket, and hit that world famous high pitched and long _waaaaaaaaannnnnnnn_, before striking chord after chord on his guitar. The stage lit up and cheers erupted. Shikamaru soloed for the thirty seconds he was told to by Itachi himself before they had even gotten to the concert, and dragged the pick across every string to create a loud _WAP_ before silencing his guitar. Cheers erupted yet again.

"What's up Konoha!" Shikamaru screamed into his microphone, making the _ha _at the end nice and long. Cheers erupted again.

"Quit hogging the stage, Shika!" Naruto's unmistakable cry pierced the air as he came on stage, juggling his drumsticks.

People laughed, that much was certain. Naruto then stopped at his drums and pounded out a complex solo that got tonnes of cheers, though nowhere near as much as Shikamaru had gotten.

Electric guitar pierced the air again.

Naruto grabbed his own microphone that he rarely used and began his part in the improvised stand up comedy act.

"Shikamaru! Quit showing off!" Naruto cried.

"It's not me!" Shikamaru replied putting his hands in the air.

"ITACHI! ITACHI! ITACHI! ITACHI!" The crowd chanted.

A blast of pyrotechnic smoke poofed into the air and Itachi leaped from the haze, and performed an insane solo. Everybody cheered.

Sasuke made his entrance at the back of the stage, he took one look at his brother, walked over to the amp, and unplugged his guitar.

"Sorry, bro. Technical difficulties." Sasuke said innocently.

"Technical difficulties my ass!" Itachi cried.

"You're embarrassing!" Neji's amplified voice cut through the air as he slid onstage, and received the biggest cheer of all.

Neji raised his hand to the crowd, a solemn expression on his face, and took his place behind the microphone.

* * *

Temari had just about fainted when Shikamaru appeared on stage. Hinata had laughed until she had to lean on Tenten for support when Naruto strolled in. They had all chanted for Itachi when he soloed out. Sakura swooned when Sasuke's voice reached her ears. Tenten's heart had raced when Neji had raised his hand to the crowd. The jumbotron was on now, so all five of the band members faces were high above their heads.

The group perched in their spots while they waited for dead silence. Then, Shikamaru's hand began to move, lightly hitting each note.

Tenten smiled. This was the song Temari had gotten her to listen to in her car all those days ago.

Itachi's hand moved and instantly the music filled the area. Tenten, Temari, Sakura and Hinata cheered as loud as they could, bouncing to the music.

Tenten waited for it. She waited to hear Neji sing. The guitars quieted down, and Tenten held her breath.

To say that Neji's voice pierced the air would be a lie. It didn't pierce the air. It rode the air. In Tenten's opinion, Neji sounded better live than on a CD. Even on the notes that sounded just a wee bit strained on the CD sounded perfect live. Tenten listened to the way his voice rolled over every word. Most people who sang stabbed every word with emphasis. Neji had his own attack style. He let the words flow.

Tenten sighed when the song ended. Everybody else cheered, but Tenten could only sigh.

**A/N: Ah...well I got some sleep that's for sure! I was up until 10:00 last night. After I finished the above sentence, the blurriness was kicking in. Not only that, but right before I shut the computer down, I wished it was the weekend. I woke up the next morning and the first thing I thought (Even though it was really Tuesday) was 'Yes! It's Saturday!' *nods slowly* I'm hopeless.**

**SilverEyeShinobi Presents...The Fifth Element: Omake Theatre!**

**Episode 3: Neji**

**Narrator: Meet Neji.**

**Neji: *blinks***

**Narrator: Not only is he the lead singer of The Fifth Element, he's a prodigy. However one day, not too long ago, tragedy struck. It was a stormy day-**

**Neji: *Claps hand over narrators mouth* You've over stayed your welcome.**

**Author: Yeah. You nearly spoiled one of the key plot points of the story!**

**Neji: All right, all right. *Pulls down black screen***

**FIN**


	4. Chapter 4: Backstage

**A/N: Chapter four, eh? This is going great! I like this story. And all day while I was in school I was constantly thinking about what's going to happen next, and how it's all going to work. I honestly jumped into this story without a plan in my head. (A bad habit of mine) and usually I have no idea when it's going to end. Even currently I don't know when this is going to end, but I think I have a pretty good idea now...even if it...:S okay now I really don't know when it's going to end XD. Ah well, we'll worry about that later. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Backstage

The concert went on for at least an hour. And believe me; these guys knew how to put on a show. They had made them laugh until they cried, then they wowed them with spectacular pyrotechnics, and catchy music.

Now, Tenten and her friends were on their way backstage.

"Oh man, I'm so nervous...What if they think we're losers or something? What if they don't care?" Temari said shakily.

"Calm down, Tema..." Sakura said soothingly. "If anyone should be nervous, it's Hinata. Her cousin is in this band, remember?"

Hinata shivered. "The most he'd do is give me is the cold shoulder..."

There was a long line up leading to where The Fifth Element waited in the wings. They let groups in no more than five at a time, and they could only stay for a few minutes. But every girl that came out came with an autographed picture of the entire group, and smiles on their faces.

"...can't believe you asked him for a hug!" A girl said as she supported her friend who looked totally stunned.

"I didn't think he'd actually do it!" The stunned girl said softly.

Sakura jumped in. "Who hugged you?" She asked excitedly.

The girl sighed. "Itachi..."

The stunned girl got dragged off by her friend.

Sakura began to fuss over her hair. "Do you think Sasu-kun will hug me?" She said softly.

Temari sniggered. "Who knows? Will you have the guts to ask?"

Tenten laughed.

"Well, what are you going to do, Tennie?" Temari asked her smugly.

"Well," Tenten smiled to herself. "I have a question I want to ask them."

"Oh really?" Sakura raised her eyebrow. "You want to go out with one don't you?"

Tenten felt her face go hot, but she laughed it off. "No, nothing of the sort." Tenten turned to Temari. "What do you want to do?" she asked her.

Temari wiggled. "I'm going to shake Shika's hand!"

The two girls in front of them moved backstage. Though Tenten was in front, she stopped.

"You can go," The guard told her.

"I'm going with my friends." Tenten told him.

The three girls that were dead last smiled to each other.

"Umm...Can we go?" One of them asked.

"Go for it!" Sakura said happily.

They all ran up to the guard, and they were let in.

"Thanks for that, Tennie." Temari told her. "I didn't expect that from you."

"If I'm going, you're coming with me." Tenten told them.

A few minutes later, the five girls left with smiles on their faces, and Tenten, Temari, Sakura and Hinata were let through the door.

The five boys were seated on, or around a large table. Tenten took in everything in one glance.

Itachi sat backwards on a chair, Neji sat in a chair, his feet up on another chair, chewing the end of his pen, Shikamaru sat on the table, Naruto was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, and Sasuke was leaning against a wall.

Though the four girls thought about what they were going to say before they even entered the place, they found themselves inexplicably tongue tied. What would they say? Surely something like, "Oh my god I can't believe it's really you guys!" would suffice, but I'm sure they've been getting that all day.

Luckily for them, one of them broke the silence for them.

"Hi," Itachi said easily and raised his hand.

"H-Hi..." the girls somehow managed to get out.

Neji suddenly turned towards his black haired friend. "Itachi, do you always have to be so blunt?" He said calmly.

"Yes I do, because unlike you my tongue isn't a razor blade." Itachi defended.

Neji smirked and turned away.

Naruto suddenly appeared right in front of them. The four girls jumped back.

Sasuke and Shikamaru appeared right behind him and grabbed his arms.

"Don't mind him," Shikamaru told them, looking straight at them. "He has a bad habit of leaping before he thinks."

"Hold him still..." Neji's voice said suddenly. Neji held his pen in his hand like a dart and was moving it slowly back and forth as if to take aim. Neji tossed it and Itachi leapt up and snatched it out of the air.

"You ruined my fun." Neji said coolly.

Shikamaru and Sasuke dragged Naruto back to the table. They turned back, and seemed surprised to see the four girls still standing there.

"Well, don't be a door block!" Shikamaru cried. He waved his hand at them. "Just come over here."

Tenten felt three hands grab her and shove her forward. Tenten stumbled and almost fell over.

"Yeah thanks guys." Tenten said dully.

The band laughed.

"That was cruel." Sasuke said with a laugh.

_Thud._

The band laughed again. Tenten turned.

"No way! She actually passed out?" She cried.

Sakura was lying on the floor.

The band continued to laugh.

"I've seen many reactions to us in my lifetime, but never once has somebody outright fainted." Itachi laughed.

Neji had his head in his hands. His shoulders were shaking and he was clearly laughing. He dropped his hands and continued to laugh, the smile lighting up his whole face.

Temari grabbed Sakura's arms. Tenten grabbed her legs.

"Put her on the table." Shikamaru told them. "It's too cold for someone to be lying on the floor."

"She'll have a heart attack when she wakes up!" Sasuke protested.

Itachi laughed. "I think that's the idea."

Temari and Tenten set Sakura on the table. Then they all stood around her in dead silence and stared at her.

Temari sniggered. "Get Sasuke to stand right over her."

Sasuke laughed. "You think that'll give her a heart attack?"

"No," Temari told him. "But it'll freak her right out."

So Sasuke stood over Sakura, standing in a position that made sure he'd be the first face she saw when she woke up.

Then, Sakura began to stir.

Itachi clamped a hand over his mouth. Neji was biting his lip. Naruto's cheeks were expanded fully, and he was trying desperately not to laugh. Shikamaru stared at her with a crooked grin on his face.

Sakura's eyes began to open.

"Huh?" She murmured, her eyes focusing on Sasuke.

Sasuke immediately smirked.

"Who's that?" To everyone's surprise, Sakura actually reached up and touched Sasuke's face. Sasuke held dead still trying desperately not to laugh.

Then Sakura realized who it was.

She yelped in surprise and tried to sit up, and would have toppled off the table if several pairs of hands hadn't grabbed her at that moment.

Then everyone laughed. Everyone except Sakura that is.

"You set that up!" She cried.

"Sorry, Sakura, couldn't resist!" Temari laughed.

"Okay, okay that's enough." Shikamaru said, though he was still fighting laugher himself.

"D-Did you see the look on her face?" Sasuke chuckled sitting in a chair.

"Yeah," Neji rubbed his face. "So...Surprised!"

Even Sakura had to laugh now.

"Genius." Shikamaru laughed. And he turned to Temari. "Simply genius."

"Uh, well t-thanks..." Temari scratched her head awkwardly.

"You've got some competition, Shika." Naruto laughed.

"Hey!" Itachi cried. "Nobody is more genius than Shika! It's a well known fact."

"Except maybe Neji." Naruto muttered.

_Smack!_ "Ow!" Naruto cried.

Neji had just clocked Naruto on the back of the head.

"Hey...uhh..." Tenten stuttered when everyone looked at her. "W-What's the 'Fifth Element' anyway?"

Every member of the band raised their eyebrows.

Neji frowned. "That's a good question..."

The five boys thought about it for several seconds.

Sasuke suddenly got a huge smile on his face. "WE are the Fifth Element!" He cried triumphantly with his fist in the air.

The other four members smiled and laughed.

"YES!" Shikamaru cried.

The group high fived each other.

"Oh shoot! We forgot!" Itachi cried and dove behind the table suddenly.

Itachi seemed to be rifling through a pile of paper with his butt in the air.

Neji walked over, stood beside him, and made swinging motions with his arms as if he was holding a baseball bat, and was aiming it at Itachi's rear end as if to hit him. Then Neji pulled out a pad of sticky notes, wrote "kick here" on the note, and stuck it gingerly on Itachi's pants.

Shikamaru laughed.

Itachi stood up and Neji turned away as if nothing happened. When everybody started to laugh suddenly, Itachi looked around suspiciously.

"What did you do?" He said accusingly.

Everyone continued to laugh. Itachi sat down carefully in a chair, and pulled out four photographs.

Sasuke leaned over his shoulder. "You and your photographs, nii-san."

"Go away, foolish little brother." Itachi said with a smirk as he signed the four photographs where he stood in the photo. Then he passed them onto Sasuke who signed his spot, who passed them on to Shikamaru who passed them on to Neji, who passed it on to Naruto. And yes, they all signed it.

It was then that Neji noticed Hinata.

"I never expected to see you here, Hinata-sama." Neji said calmly.

Everyone suddenly looked at Hinata, who went beet red at all the attention.

"We dragged her here!" Temari said awkwardly putting her arm around her shoulder. Hinata was grateful for Temari's defence. If Neji knew she had come on her own free will, who knows what he'd think of her.

The band gave the girls the photographs.

They somehow managed to utter a thank you.

Neji sighed and tossed his sharpie onto the table and rubbed his hand. "At least there were only about a hundred."

Itachi laughed. "Imagine a thousand."

Sasuke cringed. "My hand's hurting already."

"Are you going to be staying in Konoha for awhile?" Temari asked suddenly.

"Of course we are!" Shikamaru replied. "Konoha is our hometown! We LIVE here!"

The girls looked around at each other.

"Best not tell anybody else that, Shika." Neji muttered. "We'll have the hunters after us."

Naruto laughed. "True say."

"What's the harm in four? They don't look like people who'll hunt us down and bang on our door." Shikamaru protested.

"You'd be surprised." Tenten told him.

The band laughed.

That was when Itachi stood up. The entire group did actually to dismiss the girls.

Tenten got a glimpse of the "Kick Here" sign on Itachi's pants and just couldn't resist.

Before anyone knew what was happening, Tenten's foot had nailed Itachi dead center on the sticky note.

Itachi fell to the floor and looked up at Tenten with a look of shock on his face.

"You...You just kicked me!" He cried.

Everyone laughed. Neji fell to the floor, and was on his back laughing too hard to even stand.

"I-I can't believe you took that sign seriously!" Neji cried.

Itachi looked at the back of his pants and pulled the "Kick Here" sign off.

"Very funny Neji." Itachi growled and stood up. It was all with good feeling though.

"Not a half bad kick by the way." Itachi told Tenten as he dusted himself off.

* * *

"Oh my god, Tenten I thought he was going to kill you!" Sakura cried when they got into the car.

"Yeah, seriously, what were you thinking?" Temari cried.

Tenten shrugged. "I don't really know...It just seemed so...normal talking to them...I didn't even think they were a rock band, and I just did it."

"You could have gotten in so much trouble!" Sakura cried.

Tenten ignored that comment. The fact was, the band members weren't as bad as she had thought they would be. They were actually really nice and even sociable. They weren't stuck up like most popular bands, and they could even have a good laugh, even when signing a hundred autographs for hoards of fan girls. Tenten wouldn't tell anyone this, but she secretly hoped she would encounter them again.

**A/N: WOOT! Chapter 4 finished! This is the point where my brain is telling me to keep going, but then, what do I write? Alright, I'm going to tell you something about the idea that popped into my head and inspired this story while I was walking home from school. AHEM! Okay, so the original name for the band was actually Uzunara Hyuchiga. All their last names mashed together and blended oh so nicely. But then as I wrote this story, I thought, no...I need something better! Then I thought of my English class survivor challenge we had while we were reading "Lord of the Flies". My friend was in a tribe that they officially dubbed "The Fifth Element". That's where the idea came from. Then I thought about what she had said to me. One of their group members actually asked what the fifth element was, and one of them said those exact words: WE are the Fifth Element! Okay, so that's my story! And you will probably get more of how the band was formed next chapter. REVIEW PLEASE :) **

**SilverEyeShinobi Presents: The Fifth Element: Omake Theatre!**

**Episode 4: Footprint**

**Detective: *studying footprints of dust on floor***

**Officer: Anything?**

**Detective: Yes...It appears as if our perp...walked three meters that way...but for some reason, the prints disappear...There aren't any more leads...**

**-Somewhere else-**

**Itachi: *walking with footprint on the back of his pants***

**FIN**


	5. Chapter 5: Encounter

**A/N: I've got to stop these lengthy authors notes, so I'll just get right into the story!**

Chapter 5: Encounter

It had been several weeks since Tenten had gone to see The Fifth Element in concert. When she had gotten home, she had set the autographed photo on her desk and stared at it for several long minutes. She couldn't believe she had met these guys.

A week later, Tenten had bought a picture frame to the exact dimensions of the Fifth Element photo, and she had slipped it in so it wouldn't get damaged.

Today, Tenten was out shopping for groceries. She was totally focused on her grocery list as she wandered around with her basket. Ever since Sakura and Temari had moved into her house, they'd been pooling their money together in order to buy groceries.

_Wham!_ Tenten walked right into something. It was a person.

The person turned around and Tenten just about screamed.

It was Itachi. Itachi Uchiha.

"First you kick me in the behind, now you're walking into me in a grocery store?" Itachi said with a smirk.

"S-S-Sorry," Tenten stuttered.

"Don't worry about it." Itachi began grabbing packages of Mr. Noodle's instant ramen from the shelf.

"You must really like your ramen." Tenten said awed when he loaded his basket with goodies.

Itachi chuckled. "I eat it on occasion. It's Naruto that's addicted to it. He eats it for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day."

"Wow." Tenten said. She grabbed several packages of noodles. "So are you the only one here, or are the others with you?"

Itachi smirked. "Actually, Shika's here."

"Where is he?"

"Heck if I know. Our group stands out in public. We learned that the hard way. Individually, we just get passing glances."

"Huh..."  
"Shika's idea," Itachi told her. "Like I said before, he's genius."

Tenten laughed. "So do you enter and leave the store individually or what?"

"Funny you should say that." Itachi began to walk. Tenten walked with him, and pulled her groceries off the shelf when she needed to.

"Actually, not only do we walk to the store individually, we leave the house individually. It technically is sort of off the beaten track, but we still live in a neighbourhood, so we try not to walk out of the house at the same time. Shikamaru left the house using the back door, and jumped the backyard fence and took the back route to get here, and I took the front door. We divide up the list and go independently."

"What happens when you see each other in the store?"

"We pretend the other doesn't exist."

Tenten laughed.

"So, how are those friends of yours?" Itachi asked.

"They're all right I guess. They'd pummel me if I told them I met you in the store though."

Itachi chuckled. "That's what friends are for, eh? They pummel you just for fun, and because they know they can get away with it."

Tenten laughed.

"If I had a dollar for all the times our circle of friends has taken a swing at each other, I'd be filthy stinking rich." Itachi told her.

Tenten laughed again. "You're already probably rich."

Itachi shook his head.

"That's a shocker."

At that moment, Tenten saw a girl about her age checking Itachi out. Itachi ignored her and continued his conversation with Tenten.

"So, has Sakura forgiven you yet?"

"Oh yeah, no hard feelings at all." Tenten replied.

"That's good, because I still haven't forgiven my punk of a friend for the sign incident."

Tenten laughed.

"You left a bruise you know that? I couldn't sit in a chair for a week!"

By now, the staring girl had passed. Itachi glanced over his shoulder.

"You saw that girl didn't you?" Itachi murmured.

Tenten nodded.

"That's why we don't group up anymore. Individually, people just wonder, 'is that that guy from that band?' and watch for some sort of clue. But the moment they see 'that guy from that band' with 'another guy from that band', it's a pretty good pointer, and we're not able to get anything done anymore, because we're being swarmed."

"I can see it now." Tenten replied.

Itachi chuckled. The two were now standing in the checkout line. The woman at the register began staring at Itachi curiously. Itachi took the stares naturally.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" The woman at the register asked.

Itachi looked up. "I don't think so." He replied.

"I swear I've seen you before." The woman continued.

Tenten spotted Shikamaru in a checkout line several stations away, packing groceries in bags.

Itachi was bagging his groceries with an air that just screamed uneasiness, but at the same time, an innocent calm.

"I...I think my daughter has your picture up on her wall..." The register woman said, causing people to glance at Itachi yet again.

Shikamaru's head snapped up as he grabbed his bags and walked towards the exit. He spotted Tenten and his eyebrow twitched in recognition. Then his eyes moved towards Itachi for a split second before he hardened his gaze and walked past. Tenten got the picture.

_Defend him._

Itachi looked up in surprise. "Ehh...what?"

"Hey wait! I know him!" The girl they had seen earlier cried. "He's Itachi Uchiha!"

Itachi burst out laughing. "What?" He laughed.

The register woman's eyes widened. "So it is!"

Itachi began to look helpless. Only Tenten could see it; the desperation in his eyes.

"He's not Itachi Uchiha." Tenten told them. "He's my cousin, Kentarou Higurashi."

The people looked at him.

"Surely he is..." The register woman murmured. Then she looked back at Itachi.

The area around the register was dead silent.

Tenten packed up her groceries.

"Come on." She told Itachi, and they walked out of the store.

Itachi looked at Tenten with awe.

"Thank you." He told her. "I thought I was screwed then and there."

"Don't mention it." Tenten replied. "I caught Shikamaru's eye and he literally told me to defend you without saying a word."

Itachi laughed. "Neji does that."

"What?"

"He communicates with people without saying a word. He apparently reads their body language. I want to put the two of you in the same room and tell you to have a silent conversation with each other. I won't believe that two people can have a silent conversation without actually using words until I see it."

Tenten started across a street.

"Oh, I guess that's it then?" Itachi said raising his eyebrows. "See you later then!"

Tenten nodded to him to show she had heard and glanced back at him as the light changed.

Itachi Uchiha strolled casually across the street, bags of groceries in hand.

* * *

"You're alive!" Shikamaru cried when Itachi walked in the front door. "I could have sworn they figured you out."

"They did." Itachi said simply. "That girl who kicked me saved my skin. And for the record, I am now her cousin. My name is Kentarou Higurashi. Pleasure to meet you."

Shikamaru laughed. "You still don't know that girls name do you?"

"Forgot to ask." Itachi murmured. He began piling groceries into the cupboards.

* * *

"No way, you ran into ITACHI at the STORE of all places?" Temari cried.

"Yeah," Tenten said happily. "And I defended him when people started to guess his identity."

"I wish I had been there." Sakura said softly.

"Shikamaru was there too, but I didn't speak to him. He was just kind of there." Tenten shrugged.

"SHIKA was there?" Temari shrieked. "Aww now I wish I had gone with you."

**A/N: How was that for an encounter? As you may have figured out, I'm going to summarize every chapter in one word and use it for the chapter title. So the title has a bit of foreshadowing to it!**

**REVIEW ME PLEASE AND THANK YOU! :D I would be very happy if you did :)**

**SilverEyeShinobi**

Edit: March 6 2011


	6. Chapter 6: Forest

**A/N: Holy schmuck I'm beginning to run out of ideas! And this is one of my favourite stories I've ever had the fortune to think up! Come on use your head! ...BRILLIANT! :D I actually got one! ...But now I must think of how I'm going to knot said idea with the real story... crap...One more random chapter necessary :) **

Chapter 6: Forest

"So really? There's a massive cherry blossom tree in here?" Sakura asked. "I've never seen it before."

Hinata smiled. "It's really quite beautiful. Besides, now's the time the blossoms start blooming, right?"

Tenten, Temari, Sakura and Hinata walked side by side through the forests of Konoha. It was a beautiful day. Back the house, Hinata had suggested that they go for a walk, and she knew of a nice cherry blossom tree they could hang out under.

"So where is it anyway?" Temari asked.

"Just up ahead." Hinata told her.

Faint laughter hit their ears.

"Who's laughing?" Tenten asked out loud.

The three girls looked at Tenten.

"I heard laughter...It sounded familiar, but I can't explain why."

Sakura suddenly cried out in delight. "I see the tree! I see it!" Then she ran ahead of the group and barrelled into the clearing, tearing towards her namesake. She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Temari asked her.

Temari stepped into the clearing and just about tripped. "No freaking way."

Tenten jumped a log and began to walk towards Sakura and Temari. Then she saw what they were staring at.

There they were. In all their glory. The Fifth Element, sitting beneath the cherry blossom tree as if they belonged there.

It was Temari who spoke up first. "What are you guys doing here?" She cried.

Itachi waved calmly at them and turned back to his friends.

Temari got bold and ran towards the group. "Didn't you hear me?" She asked them.

Tenten, Sakura and Hinata followed Temari to the group of boys.

"Absolutely nothing." Sasuke replied with a smirk. "That's what we're doing here."

Neji chuckled.

"Join us in doing nothing if you want." Shikamaru invited.

The four girls eagerly sat down.

Silence enveloped them.

Naruto shifted endlessly. Itachi's eyes shifted from person to person. Sasuke stared at his brother. Shikamaru yawned. Neji stared at Naruto.

Next thing they knew, Sasuke began to snicker. Followed by Itachi, followed by Naruto, followed by Shikamaru and then Neji. Then the entire band was laughing their heads off for no apparent reason.

"What are we doing?" Itachi cried.

"Staring contest!" Neji cried and stared straight at Itachi.

Itachi took the cue and began the stare off with Neji. Their eyes seemed to bug out of their heads as they tried not to blink.

Itachi began to sweat. A few people around the circle began to snicker. Even the girls joined in the laugh.

Neji suddenly puckered his lips and blew at Itachi. The air hit Itachi's eyes, and forced him to blink.

"Cheat!" Itachi cried rubbing his eyes.

Neji rubbed his eyes with a smirk on his face. "You just don't have the ingenuity to bend the rules."

"Let's play something else." Shikamaru suggested. "I don't know what, but we should play something that you can't cheat in."

"How about the snorting game?" Tenten suggested.

Everyone looked at her.

"What the heck is the snorting game?" Neji asked.

"Well, first of all, you get a group of people and you sit in a circle." Tenten gestured to the circle they already had formed. "And then you get one person to start, and they turn to the person on their left and they..." Tenten turned to Itachi who just happened to be on her left and snorted in his face.

Itachi burst out laughing.

"And if the person you snort at laughs, then they're out. And let me tell you that every single one of you would be out, because you're all laughing."

"I get it. Poker face." Shikamaru said and forced his face into an emotionless mask. "Can I start?"

"Go for it." Tenten told him.

Shikamaru turned to Naruto who was failing to keep his poker face. Shikamaru snorted loudly at him. Naruto tried to keep himself together, his lips pressing tight together, forcing down a smile. Then he finally turned to Hinata who was beside him and snorted at her. Hinata let out a giggle.

"Out!" Naruto cried. Hinata slid from the circle with the smile still on her face, and the new gap closed up as Sakura and Naruto slid inwards.

"Now what?" Sakura asked.

"You snort, Sakura."

Sakura turned to Temari and snorted at her. Temari didn't even flinch, and she turned to Tenten.

_HOOOCCKKKK!_ Was the sound she made. Tenten bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing. Then she turned to Itachi and snorted at him.

Itachi broke down. He slid out of the circle still laughing his head off.

"My turn?" Sasuke asked.

Tenten nodded, and Sasuke turned to Neji and snorted in his face. Neji looked very annoyed at the close quarters snorting, but then turned to Shikamaru and snorted at him.

"Pfffff..." Shikamaru let out a burst of air and laughed. "That is so out of character for you Neji, it's hilarious." Shikamaru slid from the circle.

It was Naruto's turn now. He rotated his head around before snorting in Sakura's face. Sakura smirked, her eye twitching slightly. Itachi saw this and started laughing again. Sakura then turned to Temari and stared at her. Temari watched her carefully. Then

_HOOOOOCCCCKKKKK! _Sakura gave the loudest most demented snort of all time.

Temari howled with laughter. Neji had a hand over his mouth, and his shoulders were stiff. Temari slid from the circle. Tenten turned to Sasuke and snorted in his face. Sasuke blinked then turned to Neji and snorted at him. Neji snorted to Naruto who broke out in giggles and slid from the circle. Only four left.

Sakura turned to Tenten and gave a tremendous snort. Tenten didn't even twitch. Then Tenten turned to Sasuke, screwed up her face and snorted at him. Sasuke laughed, but it was more from anxiety than anything. He slid away like Tenten was the plague.

Neji turned to Sakura, generating a multi-toned snort that came out almost like _Ohhh-waa-ohhh._ Sakura broke out in laughter. In fact, everyone who had been out for awhile laughed as well.

"Nice one Neji!" Naruto cried.

Sakura slid from the circle. Now it was Tenten and Neji. Tenten moved one side of her upper lip and snorted. Neji raised his eyebrow and snorted back. Tenten kept herself together. She stared at him from beneath her eyelashes and gave a loud snort. Neji looked away for a moment then turned back and snorted twice in rapid succession.

Itachi laughed again. But wasn't he always laughing?

Tenten snorted three times, the snorts sounded like _ha-ha-ho._ Neji snorted again but didn't even open his mouth so it came out sounding strangled, sounding like a _knk. _Tenten snorted a snort that increased in pitch as it went sounding like _ohhhhhaaaaaaaaaa._ Neji replied with yet another _knk._

Itachi chuckled. "This is getting good."

Tenten rolled her eyes and gave another snort, this one decreasing in pitch. Neji narrowed his eyes and snorted in a circle which sounded like _oooaaaooooaaaa._

Itachi lost his mind yet again. Itachi really wasn't any good at this game.

Tenten was running out of ideas. So she screwed up her face and snorted loudly. Neji's brow furrowed. Then he did the most unexpected thing of all. He snorted a song. (Have you heard that Da da da da da daaaaa! CHARGE! Remember that? That's what Neji did.)

Tenten lost it. She collapsed with laughter along with everyone else. Neji put his arms in the air in triumph.

"I win." He said easily and leaned back onto the ground with his hands behind his head.

"That was a given Neji." Shikamaru said simply. "You're a rock when it comes to showing emotions."

"I'm just surprised you held out for so long!" Naruto told Tenten with awe.

"So am I really..." Tenten murmured.

Neji began to cough. "The back of my nose is killing me now."

"My chest hurts." Itachi complained.

"Side effects of the snorting game." Tenten said simply, ignoring the dryness at the back of her nose.

"Oh, before I forget again..." Itachi began, turning towards the girls. "We still have absolutely no idea who you guys are."

"I-I'm Temari!" Temari responded instantly.

"S-Sakura..." Sakura replied.

"I'm Tenten." Tenten continued.

"I...I'm H-Hinata," Hinata finished, her cheeks flushing furiously as she tapped her fingers together.

"Great, now we know." Itachi said and he clapped his hands together.

Neji coughed again. "I'd better be able to sing this weekend." Neji muttered.

"You have another concert?" Sakura cried in awe.

"Sort of." Shikamaru said. "We're playing at Konoha's Wonderland on Saturday. Then we're going to hit the theme park!"

"And swim in the pools! Don't forget about the pools!" Naruto added.

"You guys can come if you want." Shikamaru told them.

"I-I'd love to!" Temari burst out.

Shikamaru laughed.

"That park is going to be packed." Neji muttered sitting up. "Not only that, but we're going to be followed everywhere we go."

"We'll be fine Neji." Sasuke told him. "We'll just hit all the scary rides where our fans fear to tread." Sasuke moved his hand out in front of him, as if to show Neji all the possibilities.

Neji's eyes widened. "Oh hell no... You are not putting me on Drop Zone..."

"Yes we are!" Naruto taunted.

"No..."

"Yes!"

"No..."  
"Yes!"

"Didn't you hear about the woman who got scalped on Drop Zone when her hair got caught in the rigging?" Neji asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "We'll just tie your hair up."

"That's not why you don't want to go on is it?" Itachi teased lightly.

"I don't really want to go on Drop Zone either." Tenten told them. "I have a terrible fear of falling. I can't stand the feeling." Tenten shivered.

"Forget it!" Temari cried. "Both of you are getting dropped, get it?"

Tenten and Neji looked at each other, sharing a fear only they could understand.

**A/N: HAHA! Yes that's so me. Chronic fear of falling. And yet, I actually had the guts to go on a Drop Zone at Six Flags: New England. I got the Konoha Wonderland from a theme park right here in Canada. It's called Canada's Wonderland. This was the idea that I got earlier on! THEME PARKS! :D Alright, I'm pushing my luck for time again. Three chapters once again in one night. Hopefully you will understand my dedication!**

**REVIEW ME! :D**

**SilverEyeShinobi.**

Edit: April 22, 2011


	7. Chapter 7: Wonderland

**A/N: All right, I'm so bad...I've been trying to get the second chapter of my Neji vs. National Holidays series together, but I keep brain farting... So now, I'm just going to continue with The Fifth Element, because it's amazing that way :).**

**Oh and thank you so much for your reviews! It made me very happy to hear that you enjoyed the story so much!**

**Sorry I suddenly and without explanation removed chapter 7 from the story...I randomly decided to split the whole thing into parts to keep the chapters in an even number of words, but I just gave up on that because I'd be heading into a three part chapter. So, enjoy this extra long chapter!**

Chapter 7: Wonderland

Tenten opened her eyes. _It's today!_ She thought happily. It was the day she would be meeting Neji at Konoha's Wonderland.

_Wait...I'll be meeting NEJI?_ Tenten's brow furrowed. _I'll be meeting everyone there...but why did I specifically think Neji?_

Tenten dragged herself out of bed and ran into the shower. She took her usual half-hour shower in five minutes. Then she pulled on her clothes after putting her swimsuit on, and ran down for breakfast. She glared impatiently at the toaster as she waited for the toast to cook.

Tenten smiled as she recalled a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip about bread and toast.

_*slide 1*_

_Calvin: Wanna see something weird?_

_*slide two*_

_Calvin (is putting a piece of bread in the toaster): Watch. You put bread in this slot and push down this lever..._

_*slide three*_

_Calvin (Watching the toast pop out of the toaster): Then in a few minutes, toast pops up!_

_*slide four*_

_Hobbes (looking into the toaster): Wow. Where does the bread go?_

_Calvin: Beats me. Isn't that weird?_

The toast burst forth from the toaster and Tenten caught the pieces in mid-air. When she hit the foyer, Tenten grabbed the knapsack she had prepared with a towel, and several other things she may need at the theme park and ran out of the house.

* * *

Neji pulled a shirt over his head. He wasn't vain but he stared into his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

_Am I really about to go into public with my band and play a concert at Konoha's Wonderland, then go on a whole bunch of rides? _He thought to himself. Neji brushed out his long brown hair before tying it back.

"I must be out of my mind..." He murmured to himself.

"Neji! Hurry up in there!" Itachi's voice cried from the other side of the door.

Neji smirked and opened the door. "Sorry, your prince, it's all yours." He taunted easily.

"Very funny," Itachi growled.

Neji waited. He then heard the sound of the shower curtain being pulled away.

Itachi screamed. "HOLY SHIT!"

Neji laughed.

Shikamaru, Sasuke and Naruto appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked eagerly.

Itachi came out of the bathroom with no shirt on, carrying a fake, but very realistic looking rat.

"Come on, Neji, really?"

Neji laughed again.

Itachi shook his head and tossed the rat at Neji.

Neji caught it, still laughing.

"What's so funny, Neji?" Naruto asked.

Neji turned to them from the top of the stairs.

"Catch," Neji tossed the fake rat down the stairs at them.

Naruto caught it and yelped, the rat flying from his hands and onto the floor.

Neji collapsed to the floor laughing, and trying to hold onto the stair railing for support.

Sasuke looked up at Neji. "You are cruel."

Itachi was always the last person to have a shower in the morning. Why? Because he took so damn long. Neji and Shikamaru were able to have a full game of Shougi and declare a winner by the time Itachi was out of the shower.

Sasuke broke into a coughing fit the moment Itachi entered the room. Neji realized why after a few seconds. He covered his nose and mouth with his hand. Naruto was holding his breath, Shikamaru was keeled over retching.

"Did you spill that on yourself?" Neji gasped.

Itachi looked at them. "What?"

"All I can smell is aftershave!" Shikamaru cried.

Itachi glanced at the wall.

"Go wash it off!" Neji ordered. "I'm not letting you in my car smelling like that. We'll all be dead by the time we reach the theme park."

Itachi rolled his eyes and went back upstairs.

* * *

Tenten, Temari, Sakura and Hinata stood in Konoha Wonderland's parking lot just outside their car. They had been told where to park by Neji. The group of boys that should have already been there hours ago were nowhere to be seen.

"There they are!" Temari cried. She was gazing at a silver car that was pulling into a parking lot. Tenten had no idea how she knew that they were in the silver car, but the vehicle pulled into the parking space beside them, and out popped Neji.

"Hey, sorry we're late." He told them.

"Itachi decided to take a forty minute shower this morning." Shikamaru said, leaning on the roof of the car from the passenger's side.

"Then he spilled his cologne on himself-" Naruto added.

"HEY! That's classified!" Itachi cried as he stepped out of the car.

The group of girls laughed.

"You forgot about the rat you left in the shower, Neji!" Itachi glared at him.

"Harmless fun," Neji replied. "Hurry up. We're going to be late.

Tenten popped the trunk on her car. She had promised the band that she would take half of Naruto's drum set in her car, as there wasn't enough room in Neji's trunk to fit the whole thing.

"This is how you know we're not famous." Sasuke muttered, pulling his bass from the back of the car and strapping it across his back.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"We have to bring our equipment in our own cars, and arrange for someone else to assist us in taking the larger stuff." Sasuke replied.

"You mean we don't have our own official transportation?" Itachi said.

Sasuke nodded. "We don't have our own tour bus."

Shikamaru laughed. "I hope we never get a tour bus. I'm enjoying our 'straight-out-of-the-garage' status."

Neji nodded in agreement, propping his microphone stand over his shoulder.

* * *

Tenten, Temari, Sakura and Hinata stood in the front row of the gathering crowd to watch the performances. Their favourite band, gee I wonder who, had guaranteed them a spot in the front row if they were willing to take it.

They took it.

"I wonder when they'll be coming on." Temari asked excitedly.

"They're on last." Hinata said softly, looking through the guide she had picked up from somewhere.

"LAST?" Temari cried. "Aw man!"

Slowly, bands of all shapes and sizes went on stage. The first one was an all girls hip-hop sing-and-dance type group. A few others came up who were rock groups as well.

"How much longer, Hina-chan?" Temari asked excitedly.

"Only five more left," came the reply. Hinata had been scratching off every band that went by with a pen she had brought along.

Tenten shifted impatiently then looked at the time.

_It's only nine o'clock now...There's still plenty of time to go on rides!_

Twenty minutes passed and Hinata suddenly began to jump with excitement.

"They're on now!" She cried.

"Finally!" Temari cried.

Tenten began to get butterflies of excitement in her stomach.

"Ooooh I'm so excited!" Sakura cried, wiggling with excitement.

Finally, the announcer began to speak.

"_This is the last performance of the day. These boys have already played one concert in Konoha. There aren't many steps between them and the garage they've been practicing in for however long they've been at it, but here is The Fifth Element!"_

Tenten, Hinata, Temari and Sakura began to cheer.

* * *

"Shh!" Itachi hissed suddenly.

Neji suddenly realized what he was shushing about.

"Those are our girls aren't they?" Shikamaru asked with a smile on his face.

Itachi laughed. The curtains suddenly opened.

"Big crowd!" Naruto cried from behind his drum set.

Shikamaru hit a chord on his guitar and got absolutely no sound. He frowned and tried again. And again.

"Oh great. What a drag..." He sighed.

"Technical difficulties." Neji said into his microphone and walked over to Shikamaru to try to help him.

The crowd was dead silent as they tried to figure out what was wrong with Shikamaru's amp.

"Kick it." Sasuke suggested. "That always works."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as the crowd started to chuckle.

Neji began to check the wire. He tracked it all the way down to the outlet. It was intact. Neji unplugged it for a moment, then plugged it back in.

"Try it now!" Neji told them.

Shikamaru slapped the strings. Nothing happened.

Itachi flipped the amp off and turned it back on. Randomly he flicked Shikamaru's guitar with his finger. Nothing happened. Then he went over to his own amp and slapped his guitar. His amp worked.

"I'm telling you! Just kick it!" Sasuke cried.

"Oh right, like that's going to work!" Shikamaru cried, but he delivered a harsh kick to the amp anyway. The amp suddenly emitted a loud screeching sound. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and slapped the strings on his guitar. It worked.

"HAHA! I will never doubt you again buddy!" Shikamaru cried and slapped Sasuke on the back.

"Instant repair blow!" Itachi cried. "No repair man needed."

The crowd laughed.

"Can we just start?" Neji asked them stepping up to his mic.

Shikamaru began to play the powerful chords of the song that they had just written two months ago. It was a very up-beat piece that if played at a dance, would get everybody on the dance floor. Itachi joined in harmony a few moments later. Naruto continued to pound away on his drums.

Neji added his voice to the seemingly random mix of music, and smiled on the inside when he received a good five hundred cheers in response. A momentary pause and Itachi threw in a two-second solo before the chorus began. Chorus done. Naruto pounded out his own solo. Neji began the second verse, knowing full well what came after the second chorus in the bridge/ending. Personally, he couldn't wait.

Shikamaru screeched his guitar before the second chorus. Neji ended the second chorus with an incredibly long note that he held steadily for as long as he possibly could. Moments later, Sasuke stepped forward in the din of silence and performed a complicated bass solo, complete with slap bass. Thirty seconds later, he stepped back and Shikamaru leapt forward and soloed. The crowd cheered. Shikamaru continued to solo, but with only one hand, while he raised his other hand into the air to get the crowd to cheer louder. Shikamaru shot the crowd the thumbs up, and continued with his solo. After his thirty seconds Naruto took off making real music with the drums. Neji could swear he was actually playing notes. Naruto pounded out George of the Jungle for several seconds before going full out on the suspended symbols and hi-hat. After Naruto's thirty seconds, Itachi slid into sight on his knees and went full out on his guitar. The notes were jumbled, but they still had rhyme and melody to it. However, it was just as rapid and jumbled as AC/DC's _Thunderstruck_. Itachi let his final note ring out and screech, then everyone holding an instrument played a final chord, or in Naruto's case bring their drumsticks straight down onto the symbols, to end the song.

Cheers erupted from the crowd. Neji, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi walked into the middle of the stage and slapped a high five for five.

"We owned." Naruto said simply.

"Yes we did." Itachi replied.

"Not a half bad beginning either." Shikamaru added with a laugh. "That was not deliberate, believe me."

"I know." Neji replied.

"Now what?" Sasuke asked.

"We stick everything back in the car, and we go on rides." Neji said simply.

* * *

Tenten and Neji lifted Naruto's massive bass drum and set it lightly in the back of Tenten's car.

"And we're done!" Tenten said happily. "Which ride's first?"

Tenten didn't like the wicked grins that suddenly appeared on her friends faces.

"Oh no..." Neji cried. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Yes!" Itachi taunted.

"No..." Neji cried.

Sasuke and Itachi grabbed Neji.

"Yes." Sasuke said in his ear. Then they began to drag him away.

"Come on, Tennie!" Sakura said with sugar on top.

_Oh no..._ Tenten thought to herself.

* * *

Five minutes later, the group was standing in line for Drop Zone. The 230-foot tower pierced the clear blue sky far above their heads.

Tenten could have sworn Neji's face went pale when the seats that had taken thirty seconds to get to the top suddenly dropped towards the ground.

"You don't look so good Tenten." Sasuke commented.

"I hate falling..." She said softly.

Eventually, but too early for Tenten and Neji's tastes, they were at the front of the line.

"Guys, I'm not going on this thing..." Neji told them

"It's fine Neji." Itachi told him, his eyes dancing with excitement.

"Haven't you heard of the woman who got scalped on a Drop Zone ride because her hair got caught in the rigging?" Neji asked him.

Itachi rolled his eyes.

Tenten looked at Neji. He really didn't want to go on this ride.

"Neji, I'll go on with you if it makes you feel better." Tenten told him.

Neji shook his head. "I don't like falling. If you were to put me on a beam over top of a five hundred meter drop, I wouldn't move at all not because I can't take the height, but because I don't want to fall."

Tenten nodded. "I get that. That's how I feel, so if it makes you feel any better..."

"Forget it Neji." Sasuke said easily. "You're going on Drop Zone."

Neji sighed. "Fine, but I get to pick the next one."

Neji was too upset to feel anything now.

Sasuke agreed to his terms, and Neji smiled to himself. Neji knew Sasuke's fear like the back of his hand.

The group of nine stepped into the drop area and took their seats. Neji pulled the thing that would keep him from falling to his death over his head. He would just close his eyes and pretend that everything was all right while he was on this ride.

Tenten sat beside him and began taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"I wouldn't flood your brain with oxygen if I were you." Neji told her. "It may just wake you up more so you feel the whole thing more."

Tenten stopped breathing. "What do you suggest I do then?"

"Close your eyes and hope it'll be over in a few seconds."

Tenten nodded and closed her eyes.

The seats jerked and the ride began to lift the group into the air. Neji's heart began to pound in his chest.

"Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell..." He heard Tenten muttering.

"Tenten," Neji began to attempt to make conversation with her so he could get his mind off the coming drop. "How's your fear of heights?"

"I don't have one...I love high places." She said faintly her eyes staring out into the distance.

"How would you like to ride the Behemoth next then?"

Tenten smiled at him. "Hell yes!"

Neji laughed. "For the record, Itachi and Sasuke are terrible with heights."

"So is Sakura." Tenten said easily. They were now at the top of the ride, and they barely even noticed. They felt quite calm and content just sitting on that ride making idle chatter with each other.

"I still remember that time when-" Tenten began but was cut off by the ride operator taunting them from his booth via, the speaker, while they were at the top of Drop Zone.

He sang: _A, B, C, D, E, F, G._

_You will drop in one, two, three._

The floor dropped out from beneath Tenten and Neji. Tenten gave a small cry of shock and went dead silent for the rest of the way down. Neji groaned as the ride slowed down. He let his chin fall to his chest as he tried to steady his churning gut.

Tenten let out a moan. "That was awful..."

Then the ride operator said the words that neither Tenten, nor Neji wanted to hear.

_Who wants to go again?_ The voice came through the speaker.

"No! No! No! No! No!" Neji and Tenten cried. The crowd around them was laughing at them, but they didn't care.

_You all want to go again?_ The cheers from everyone else practically drowned out Neji and Tenten's protests.

_All right, out you go._

The ride released them and Neji and Tenten wasted no time shoving the safety devices off them and making a beeline for the exit.

Their friends followed them all the way to a bench where Tenten hit the ground and Neji collapsed onto a bench.  
"Geeze guys..." Itachi began. "You guys really don't like falling do you?"

Tenten was now kissing the ground. "I love you earth!" She was saying. "I will never leave you again!"

The group was laughing at her.

* * *

Neji and Tenten finally got their heads on straight. It was then that Neji began leading the group towards the Behemoth. The tallest goddamned ride in the entire theme park. Actually, it was the same height as Drop Zone, but it wasn't a straight down drop. It was an angle of seventy-five degrees towards the ground. Tenten and Neji were determined to get front row seats to this experience.

"You're kidding me Neji..." Itachi's voice was quivering slightly. "Out of all the rides you could have picked, you had to pick the biggest one."

Neji grinned evilly.

Neji and Tenten couldn't wait to get to the front of the line. Luckily, for them, they were dead in front when their time came to board the coaster. The ride operator rushed them forward when the next train rolled to a stop and emptied. Shikamaru and Naruto helped to drag Itachi and Sasuke onto the ride. Sakura got on by herself, but that didn't mean she liked it. Neji and Tenten took the very front of the car. Shikamaru and Temari, who were incredibly enthusiastic about the ride sat right behind them, followed by Naruto and Hinata in the next car, in the two seats behind them were Sasuke and Sakura, then Itachi with some girl he didn't even know and two others behind him. Theme park rides will get you to sit beside anybody if you really want to get on it.

Neji and Tenten began to whoop when the train lurched forward. Neji glanced around at the cars that didn't have any walls on them. The only thing keeping the passengers in place was a single safety bar that went right over your lap and rendered your thighs immobile.

They began to go up the cable hill. The first part of the ride that was also the slowest and dullest part.

"Ever wondered why it takes so long just to get to the top of the first hill?" Shikamaru's voice reached Tenten's ears.

"Yeah," Tenten replied. "It's to get you hyped up for the ride right?"

They were now half way up the hill.

Shikamaru was glancing around as the world began to peel away from them as they continued up the 230-foot hill.

"I think," Neji piped up suddenly, examining the world around them as they neared the top. "I think they make it take this long so you can think to yourself..." They began to crest the hill.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" Neji finished easily as he stared straight down the seventy-five degree angle, straight at the green grass below.

"OH MY GOD!" Itachi's voice sliced through the air as the train began to speed up and shoot towards the ground at 125 kilometres per hour.

Neji and Tenten screamed as loud as they could, but hanging on to their seats with a white-knuckle grip. When the scream was over, they were laughing most of the time. Shikamaru erupted in a cry of shock every time the car crested the hill. Temari laughed at him every time.

"I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA DIE!" They heard Sasuke's voice screaming from a car back.

Tenten looked at Neji. His hair flew straight out behind him in a violent wave.

Shikamaru suddenly grabbed the end of Neji's hair and tore out his hair tie.

"Hey!" Neji cried.

"It was coming out! I swear!" Shikamaru replied as they shot around the first curve, turning around 180 degrees to shoot back over several more hills and valleys. Neji didn't worry about his hair tie anymore. He was just enjoying the ride.

Neji suddenly looked at her, his eyes dancing and a stupid grin on his face. Tenten's heart practically leapt out of her chest. Tenten had never actually taken a good look at Neji's face before. And in the split second they made eye contact, Tenten took the whole thing in. His nose was perfectly straight, his cheekbones were high, and his mouth wasn't too big, or too small. His pale eyes danced like sunlight on fresh clean snow on a crisp winter day.

Tenten turned back to the ride as she was thrown forward when they went back up a hill. She would focus on the ride now, lest she get whiplash from getting completely out of it.

The final tracks for the ride were then laid out before them. They went around the toilet bowl loop, looped again in the other direction a few moments later, went over a final hill, before slowing and coming to a stop back at the rides entrance.

"You're dead!" Itachi's voice cut through the air again. "You're dead, Neji! You're dead! You're dead! You're dead!"

The safety bar released them and Itachi, Sakura and Sasuke booked it out of the train.

"Yes!" Neji whispered and pumped his fists triumphantly. "Payback success!"

* * *

Once Itachi regained his sanity, he slapped Neji across the face.

"You son of a gun!" Neji cried. "What was that for?"

Itachi was walking away.

"You put me on Drop Zone and I didn't slap you, you bastard!" Neji rubbed his stinging cheek with the back of his hand.

It was now eleven o'clock in the morning, and everybody was unsure of what to do next.

"Let's go to the water park!" Naruto kept saying.

The others were trying to figure out something to do other than go to the water park. They had all brought their swimsuits, but it wasn't as if they were all totally comfortable with showing them off to the people who had just become their friends.

The fact was that the girls still had their crushes on the band, and the band...well. Perhaps they knew that, perhaps they didn't. Either way, they knew that some of their real fans were hanging around, and they really didn't feel like ending up on someone's _facebook_ page with the caption: _Look at him! He's so hot!_ Beneath their picture.

Finally, they officially decided there was nothing else to do and went for the water park.

* * *

They stood outside of Konoha Wonderland's 'Splash City' as it was called, staring in at the massive wading pool that many toddlers were splashing around in, the massive swimming pool, the ever present lazy river, the even larger wave pool, and finally, the massive water slides.

The girls quickly forgot their shyness and ran in. The band decided that the fan girls could get a life, and followed them in.

They stood by the giant swimming pool complete with three diving boards, one low, one medium and one really high one.

"Last one in buys the sushi!" Itachi cried and began tearing off his shoes. The band followed Itachi's display as if this was protocol. Next thing the girls knew, five shirtless boys stood before them, and they hit the water seconds later.

Itachi hit first, followed closely by Neji, then Shikamaru and Sasuke. Naruto hit last.

"Come on guys! I bought last time!" Naruto cried as he surfaced.

Tenten began to laugh. She realized that they were serious about 'last one in buys the sushi'. Tenten wondered how many times they've gone through a competition like that.

The girls began to pull off their shoes. The boys were now having an all out water war and weren't paying any attention, so they had some peace of mind as they flashed their brightly coloured bikini's and leapt into the water.

Tenten felt a surge of joy as the cold water washed over her body. She loved to swim. It was the only time that she ever felt truly free. For her, it was like growing a pair of wings and flying. She dove beneath the water and swam happily, goggles over her eyes. She was able to see where she was going, and she swam like a fish, pulling corkscrews, flips, and swimming on her back, gazing at the sky through the water. She grazed the bottom, and corkscrewed again.

Then her chest began to hurt. Regardless of how much she felt like a fish, she would never be one. She was a mammal and she would always be a mammal. And so, she needed oxygen in gaseous form in order to survive. She surfaced and exhaled the carbon dioxide that had built up in her lungs and breathed easily.

"Hey, Tennie, we were wondering where you went." Neji laughed, for some reason, using her nickname.

"I was swimming." Tenten said simply, breast stroking over to the group.

"We're going to start heading for the diving board now," Itachi piped up.

"Says the man who screamed like a girl on the Behemoth." Sakura said sarcastically.

Itachi went beet red.

Sasuke laughed at him. "I heard it all."

"S-Shut up..." Itachi muttered.

The group got out of the pool and walked to the diving boards.

"We're all using the medium one!" Naruto declared. "The big one's too big and the little one is too small."

The group agreed to Naruto's conditions.

Naruto climbed up the medium one and enthusiastically ran across it, and with a cry of "CANNON BALL!" he leapt off the diving board, curled into the fetal position, and hit the water with a massive splash.

Hinata went next. She wandered to the edge of the diving board, and stared down at the water below. Then she plugged her nose, closed her eyes, and did a pencil dive straight towards the water. Her tiny frame barely made a splash as she hit the water.

Itachi made it on the diving board without having his fear of heights kick in. Then he ran straight across the board screaming, before leaping off the platform, and flailing his arms and legs as if he still had more platform to go. Everyone laughed at him.

Sasuke went next. He jogged to the center, jumped once, landed on the edge of the board, and sprung himself off the board when the diving board recoiled back up, and leapt high into the air. Sasuke's form blocked out the sun, silhouetting him in a way that was completely epic. He curled into a ball and somersaulted once, before straightening himself out into a dive. Sasuke barely made a splash. The group cheered.

"TEN!" Neji cried.

Tenten laughed.

Sakura was now on the diving board. She pulled a graceful swan dive, but didn't stick the landing well. The dive part was perfect though.

Temari stood on the diving board. She quickly did a cartwheel and stopped right on the edge, before flipping herself into the water.

Shikamaru laughed while he climbed up to the platform. He ran straight to the edge, and jumped off the side whooping and spinning like a top, his arm extended outwards creating an interesting effect.

Tenten excitedly climbed the ladder. She knew exactly what she was going to do. Her and her swimming lessons from many years ago told her what to do. Tenten jumped, jumped again on the edge, and finally launched herself off the board exactly how the Olympians do it. Then she went into pike position, spun, somersaulted then hit the water and went straight down. Tenten quickly swam to the surface.

Neji was walking to the end of the board. He stood on the edge, and looked down at the water.

Then he put his legs together, stood up straight, snapped an arm to his side and saluted with the other. He stood like that for a moment. Then Tenten watched as he tipped forward, still frozen in the salute, and tumbled towards the water. He created quite a splash, and he surfaced quickly, flipping the hair from his face.

* * *

On the request of Naruto, the group was now standing in line for the large river ride. Once they rode this ride, they would go have lunch, and then they would go on some non-thrill rides, maybe a few more coasters later, and then head home.

Neji was shivering as they stood in line. The wind was chilling their wet bodies quickly. After twenty minutes, which felt like an hour, they reached the front of the line. The group was about to go on the large river raft ride.

"Seats ten." Itachi pointed out. And indeed it did. At least, that was what the sign said.

The group of nine piled into their raft, which was just a round thing, like the teacup ride, with one large seat all the way around.

"It may get a little crazy on the ride, so hang on to the straps on the back of the seat." The operator told them as they drifted towards the beginning of the ride.

The group obliged, stretching their arms out to the straps on the backs of their seats. Tenten tried not to think about Neji's arm behind her shoulder blades. Yes, that was the way they had all seated. On Tenten's left was Itachi, followed by Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Naruto, Temari, Shikamaru, Neji then Tenten again.

The raft exited the boarding station, and instantly dipped and picked up speed.

"Whee," he heard Neji murmur as they zipped down the river.

Their raft bumped the bank and began to rotate in circles.

"Spinney, spinney, what fun." Shikamaru muttered.

The group laughed.

Naruto's eyes suddenly bugged out of his head.

"Guys..." he said. "Pray."

"Why?" Itachi asked. Then he spotted it. "B-Bucket!"

There was a bucket that was getting filled with water from a pipe over it. It didn't take a genius to know how that bucket worked. Once the bucket filled up, it would tip and dump its contents onto any unfortunate soul who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no..." Sasuke began to say as they approached the bucket. The bucket began to drip, and then it tipped right onto Sakura's head.

"AH!" She cried. "Cold, cold, cold, cold!"

Neji laughed at her, and next thing he knew he got drenched by a bucket that went unnoticed by the group.

"Karma..." Neji muttered.

The entire group began to laugh.

"Poor Neji-kun." Tenten taunted.

Neji's hand gently thumped her in the back of the head. They continued to float along, and eventually there were several pipes overhead that were dripping water straight onto everyone's head.

"Haven't I been soaked enough?" Neji screamed to the pipes.

The group laughed again.

Next thing they knew, they were approaching the bucket death trap. At least twenty buckets, smaller than the ones that got Neji and Sakura, were overhead, dumping their contents at random intervals.

"Oh hell no..." Shikamaru said.

They went under the buckets, and Tenten instantly got nailed.

"AW!" she cried.

Hinata got it next, followed by Itachi and Sasuke when the water nailed the area right between them. Shikamaru and Temari got nailed simultaneously by two different buckets. By the time they got through the death trap of buckets, not a soul on the raft was dry.

The group of nine got off the ride dripping wet.

"You could have told us about the bucket trap you left waiting for us." Sasuke told the ride operator who burst out laughing.

"Ah, I was wondering what happened to you guys!" The operator said sarcastically.

The group took up their backpacks, and wandered back into the water park to dry themselves off before going to lunch.

Everybody donned their clothes and shoes again, and walked towards the eating area of the park.

* * *

Several slices of pizza, and a few minutes of antagonizing the gulls, the group was off again, searching for more rides.

"SCRAMBLER!" Tenten cried and ran for the greatest ride you could ever ride on with your friends.

The group laughed and ran after her.

"I love this ride." Shikamaru laughed as they walked through the gates. "It's so underrated, and nobody ever wants to go on it, but if they did, they would soon realize exactly how much fun it is."

The Scrambler was a ride consisting of a rotating center with poles branching off in three different directions. On the end of those poles, were four more poles that rotated around, and were attached to the seats. The centrifugal force was the greatest part of the ride, but we'll get to that later.

Itachi, Sasuke and Sakura got into one car, Itachi being in exactly the wrong spot on the ride and not knowing it. Sasuke was in the middle, and Sakura was on the outside. Shikamaru and Temari got into another car, Neji and Tenten into another, Hinata and Naruto in the last one. Several others that have nothing to do with the group of nine settled in the other eight chairs.

The ride started up, and a few people whooped. The spin was light at first, nothing much to be said. But when it began to pick up, staying exactly where you sat when you got on the ride was impossible. You would always slide to the side facing away from the ride.

"Oh crap I'm on the wrong side aren't I?" Neji realized, as Tenten slid towards him.

"HELP!" Itachi cried as Sasuke and Sakura squished him straight against the side.

Neji and Tenten laughed, regardless of their predicament. They saw Shikamaru being crushed by Temari who was just slightly bigger than Shikamaru. Temari was laughing at poor Shikamaru, as she tried not to squash him too much.

Naruto and Hinata were just going with it. They had big grins on their faces and they were laughing hard, both of their faces going beet red.

"Neji!" Itachi's voice cried. "HEY NEJI!"

"What?" Neji cried as best as he could as he was being squashed by Tenten.

Itachi suddenly held up his iPod, which actually had a very good speaker on it. A song began to play, and then the words of the song suddenly hit the entire group.

_You spin me round, like a record right round,_

Neji began to laugh. "How appropriate for a ride like this. Do you have anything on there about being squished?"

Tenten laughed at him. "I'm sorry Neji! I'm trying not to squish you too much!"

* * *

Several hours, and an ice cream cone later, the sun was beginning to set over Konoha's Wonderland.

"Aw," Shikamaru sighed. "I had way too much fun today."

The group nodded.

"Shame it has to end." Sakura sighed.

The group nodded again.

"Hey, why don't we have a sleepover or something?" Temari suggested.

The group considered this.

"Why not?" Itachi finally said.

**A/N: Neji and Tenten's reaction to Drop Zone perfectly mirrored my own personal experience on Scream in Six Flags: New England. The events that took place were similar too. The ride operator actually did ask us if we wanted to go again, and I was like, No! NONONONONO! Where as everyone else was cheering to go again. I was really scared to have another run at it. I do have a fear of falling, I'll admit that. But unlike Neji, I got on with my own free will. Just like Tenten. But I only went on the ride to try to conquer my fear of falling. It didn't work. I'm just as afraid of falling now as I was then. And you know what's even better? I'll do it all over again if I get the chance. No, I didn't kiss the ground, but I sure wanted to. I did what Neji did. And as for the ride operators little drop song, I didn't make that up. I actually got it from a friend who went on Drop Zone at Canada's Wonderland, and she told me that the ride operator actually sang that.**

**Holy! That's one long authors note! We should get moving!**

**And about the tale about the woman getting scalped on a drop ride...I heard that story from a friend.**


	8. Chapter 8: Bonds

**A/N: OMG thank you guys for all the reviews! This story is slowly becoming the favourite. Well, quickly actually, judging by how many reviews I'm getting. Because of this, I will work harder on this one, than the other ones. I really like this one too, to tell you the truth XD. It's not plot less like Neji vs. National Holidays, and it's not a spin off something like Konoha Survivor. Anyway, shall I continue?**

Chapter 8: Bonds

The group of nine left Konoha's Wonderland and walked towards their cars.

"SHOTGUN!" Shikamaru cried as Tenten opened her car door. There was a scramble as several of the boys fought over who was going to ride in Tenten's car. Shikamaru made it to the passenger door and jumped in before anyone could do anything about it.

"Well, damn you!" Itachi cried.

Shikamaru rolled down the window and laughed at him.

"You guys are all queers." Neji muttered, opening his car door. He was the only one who didn't fight over Tenten's passenger seat. The other three boys took their seats in Neji's silver car.

Shikamaru leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head.

Tenten rolled down her window.

"Neji!" She called.

Neji rolled down his window so he could talk to her.

"Yes?" He replied simply.

"Just follow me home. I've got a big basement." Tenten told him.

Neji nodded and rolled his window back up. Tenten did the same and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

Several minutes, and several bad jokes later, Tenten pulled into her driveway. Neji's car pulled in right behind hers. She killed the engine and got out of the car. Several more car doors slammed as she walked up to her front door.

"HEY!" Naruto's voice cried suddenly. Tenten turned and saw Sasuke slam the car door with Naruto still inside the car. Sasuke laughed at him.

"What just happened?" Neji asked.

"Sasuke shoved Naruto back into the car and shut the door." Itachi replied.

Neji laughed. Naruto got out of the car and shut the door, an irritated look on his face.

Tenten unlocked her door. "We'll just go straight into the basement. That's where all the entertainment is."  
"Entertainment?" Shikamaru said. "What do you have for entertainment?"

"Oh nothing in general." Temari answered Shikamaru's question for Tenten. "Just a massive flat screen, a giant pile of DVD's and several video games."

"Flat screen?" Naruto laughed. "We don't even have a flat screen!"

"Not yet," Itachi reminded him. The group chuckled.

Tenten lead the group into the basement.

"Wow..." Sasuke gasped when he saw all the stuff in the basement. Tenten had board game central, as well as several jigsaw puzzles. Nevertheless, Naruto instantly turned on Tenten's flat screen TV.

"Holy flying cows of flin-flon!" Naruto cried as a blue whale suddenly appeared on the television.

_Whales are specially adapted for being under water. _The documentary narrator said. The entire group stood transfixed by the swimming whale. _Whales can expel stale air upon surfacing and then breath in just as fast to maximize efficiency-_

Tenten found the remote and switched it to video input two.

"Aw," Itachi whined. "I was just getting into that."

"Since when did you start enjoying documentaries, Itachi?" Neji asked him.

"Since I saw a giant whale in hi-definition!"

The group laughed.

"All right, video game first, or movie?" Tenten asked.

"Video game!" They all cried in perfect sync.

Tenten pulled out her massive pile of Wii games.

"ROCK BAND!" Sasuke cried with delight upon seeing the one on top.

Itachi laughed at him. "You and your Rock Band Sasuke. We are a rock band in case you didn't remember."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. "We lived off Rock Band for a long time, Itachi."

Itachi rolled his eyes.

Tenten smiled and put the disc in the Wii. Then she collected up all the instruments as the Wii booted up.

"Rock Band was how it all started for us." Shikamaru said suddenly. "Rock Band taught us everything we know about music."

Neji snickered. "Like what?"

Shikamaru smiled. "How to make lots of noise!"

The group burst out laughing.

"No," Neji shook his head. "It taught us other things too. It taught all of us about rhythm, pitch, whatever. Naruto didn't have very far to go after playing the drums on Expert for several years."

"Touché," Naruto chuckled.

Tenten had just finished hooking up all the instruments. "Who's first?"

"US!" Sasuke declared immediately.

Neji, Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru were in front of the instruments in moments. Shikamaru began searching through the songs.

"Please tell me you have it..." Shikamaru kept muttering.

"YES!" Neji cried.

Shikamaru and Naruto whooped.

"What?" Tenten asked.

"Our favourite song." Sasuke replied.

"No," Neji corrected. "It's our favourite song of all time!"

"Yes, yes it is." Shikamaru laughed as he selected Expert.

They all selected Expert. The girls gathered around, waiting to see exactly how these guys stacked up in Rock Band. If they could all get this on Expert, she had a feeling she would be seeing the most amazing scene ever. She instantly grabbed her video camera and began recording.

"She's filming us!" Shikamaru whined with a smile on his face.

"SIGN?" Temari cried upon seeing the title of the song. "But this song is impossible!"

"That's what you think." Itachi told her. "These guys nail it."

"We play it better for real than in Rock Band though." Sasuke laughed. "That much I say is true."

The vocals slide began to fill up, and the bass and guitar began to scroll.

_I realize the screaming pain, _

_Hearing loud in my brain _

_But I'm going straight ahead with the scar,_

Naruto tore up the drum set.

"I still hate the opening by the way." Neji laughed.

The group gave a simple "Ha" as they were too busy concentrating on the notes. Vocals began to slide again. Tenten zoomed in on the television as Neji nailed every single rhythm and note dead center.

_Wasurete shimaeba ii yo, kanji na kunacchaeba ii,_

_Surimuita kokoro ni futa wo shitanda_

_Kizutsuitate heiki da yo, mou itami wa nai kara ne_

_Sono ashi wo hikizuri nagara mo_

_Miushinatta_

_Jibun jishin ga_

_Oto wo tatete_

_Kuzureteitta_

_Kizukeba kaze no oto dake ga... _Neji held the note.

_Tsutae ni kita yo, kizuato tadotte_

_Sekai ni oshitsubusarete shimau mie ni_

_Oboeteru kana namida no sora wo_

_Ano itami ga kimi no koto wo mamotte kureta_

_Sono itami ga itsumo kimi wo mamotterunda_

Tenten whooped. Their multiplier was now at the highest it could go. They were earning points like you would not believe.

_Kizutsukanai tsuyosa yori mo, kizutsukenai yasashisa wo_

_Sono koe wa dokoka kanashisou de_

_Kake chigaeta_

_Botan mitai ni_

_Kokoro karada_

_Hanareteita_

_Mou ichido kokoro wo tsukande..._

_Tsutae ni kita you, kisuato tadotte_

_Sekai ni oshitsubusarete shimau mae ni_

_Oboeteru kana namida no sora wo_

_Ano itami ga kimi no koto wo mamotte kureta_

_Sono itami ga itsumo kimi wo mamotterunda_

Neji relaxed and sat on the couch behind him. Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke were playing the solo as _Can you hear me?_ echoed repeatedly in the background. Finally, Neji stood back up, and lyrics scrolled again

_Mitsuke kita _

_ano nakigoe wa_

_machigainaku sou_

_jibun no data_

_subete wa, kono toki no tame ni..._

_Kitto hajime kara wakkatetanda_

_Mou nidoto jibun dake wa hanasanai de..._

_Kizuite kureta, kimi e no aizu_

_Ano itami ga kimi no koto wo mamotte kureta_

_Tsutae ni kita yo, kizu ato tadotte_

_Sore nara mou osoreru mono wa nain datto..._

_Wasurenai de ne egao no wake wo_

_Ano itami ga kimi no koto wo mamotte kureta_

_Ano itami ga kimi no koto wo mamotte kureta_

_Sono itami ga itsumo kimi wo mamotterunda_

Neji sat back down on the couch for the final time. The rest of the group played the final notes.

Naruto whooped when their scores popped up. "YES! Perfect score!"

"But HOW?" Itachi cried, unable to believe it himself.

Shikamaru laughed and whipped the plastic guitar off his shoulders and proceeded to pretend to smash it on the floor.

"I caught it all on tape too!" Tenten cried.

"All right!" Neji cried and slapped Tenten a high five.

"Now we can put it on our website and brag about it." Sasuke laughed.

"Look! Perfect score!" Itachi cried, pretending to point at something.

"Of course, Itachi had nothing to do with it." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Oh shut it." Itachi muttered.

"What now?" Naruto asked.

"Get the girls to play." Sasuke said simply.

Tenten shrugged. Then she put the video camera down, and grabbed her hat off one of the shelves. Then she wrote her name, as well as Temari, Hinata, and Sakura's on a piece of paper before tearing the names off individually and sticking them in the hat.

"First instrument," Tenten said, turning to the girls.

"Vocals!" Itachi cried out of the blue.

"I didn't ask you." Tenten narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oooh burned Itachi." Neji laughed.

"Whatever," Temari muttered. "Vocals first then..."

Tenten reached into the hat and drew a name. "Hinata."

Hinata sighed. Then she picked up the microphone.

"Bass next!" Sakura suggested.

Tenten pulled another name. "Temari."

"Aw!" Temari sighed.

"Drums!" Sakura cried.

Tenten pulled again. "Sakura."

Tenten bounced with delight that she got the guitar. The group took their places behind their chosen instruments.

"So, why do you draw names?" Naruto asked.

"Because if we don't, we'll get into a duel over the guitar." Tenten said simply. "We just rotate every song."

"We also let the one who's got the mic choose the song." Temari added. "Which one do you want, Hina-chan?"

"Hey Jude..." She said timidly.

"Naaah, naaah, naah, nanananaaaa," Itachi sang.

"Hey Jude," Neji finished.

"Last I checked, Jude was a character in _6teen._" Naruto said suddenly.

"What?" Sasuke cried.

"You know... _6teen..._It's on teletoon... Jude's the one with the toque and skateboard..."

"Okay then," Sasuke shook his head.

The vocals scrolled along the screen and Hinata sang very timidly. So timidly, she could barely be heard, but somehow, it was registering on the mic.

The song eventually ended. The group rotated clockwise. Vocals went to guitar, guitar went to bass, bass went to drums, drums to vocals.

"Leave Out All The Rest." Sakura said once she took the mic.

"Really Sakura?" Temari taunted.

"What?" She asked.

"Leave Out All The Rest is probably one of the worst songs by Linkin Park."

"Then why do you like it?" Sakura laughed.

"I prefer the louder songs thank you very much." Temari said easily.

The song began, and Sakura sang the song a full octave higher. She couldn't sing at the same pitch as Chester Bennington. Temari laughed at her for this.

"You shouldn't be laughing." Shikamaru told Temari in a singsong voice. "You're singing next, remember?"

Temari shut up.

Sakura's song ended, and Temari stepped up to the plate. Tenten began to get nervous. She was next.

"We're playing DDR after this." Tenten said simply.

"You have to sing first." Sakura told her.

"I know. I meant after we all had a turn."

Temari selected Tentative by System of a Down.

Tenten did her very best to not flail around too much in the song. She was never good at the drums. Hinata was worse. Out of the group of girls, Sakura was the best at the drums. Everybody could play guitar, and bass. Singing was a joke. All you had to do was talk in pitch. You didn't even have to sing.

The song ended and Tenten picked up the mic. Tenten didn't even know which one she wanted to do.

"Pick one." Temari told her.

"I don't know which one." Tenten replied.

"Poor Tennie." Sakura laughed.

"Just do SIGN." Itachi laughed.

"We can't play SIGN!" Temari protested.

"You can try. Either way, we're playing DDR next." Naruto laughed.

Sakura shrugged. "I'm game."

"You've got the bass!" Temari cried. "That's easy!"

Sasuke snorted. "HA! You wish!"

"We should at least try it." Hinata piped up. "I mean, we'll have a good laugh if we fail epically right?"

Temari laughed. "Wow Hina! I didn't think the word 'epic' was on your vocabulary list!"

Hinata giggled faintly, sitting in front of the drum set.

"I'm game if we can laugh at ourselves." Temari said simply.

"WOOT!" Itachi cried.

The song was selected. There were varying levels of difficulty. Hinata took medium, because easy was just...too easy. Sakura selected hard, and Temari selected hard. Tenten picked medium. With vocals, the lower the level the more slack it gives you.

The song started, and Tenten did her best to hit the notes. She felt self-conscious of the wobbling arrow. Hinata and Temari instantly began missing notes. Sakura was doing all right.

"S-Sorry guys!" Hinata cried as she continued to mess up.

Naruto ran to her aid. He put his hands over hers and hit the notes with her.

"You take the foot pedal." Naruto told her.

She nodded. Nobody noticed how her face was beet red, as they were watching the television.

Temari's hands were getting sweaty. Her fingers kept slipping on the fret board. She now knew why it was called a fret board. Because you have to fret to hit the notes.

As the guitar solo approached, Shikamaru knocked her hand away from the fret board.

"You just strum." Shikamaru told her. Shikamaru took the buttons with both of his hands.

Because of all this assistance, the group finished the song.

"YES!" Tenten cried. She turned around and saw the assistance they had gotten. "Aw, I thought we did that ourselves!" Tenten cried.

Temari shrugged. Hinata was still beet red.

"DDR?" Itachi asked.

The group put away the plastic instruments and pulled the Dance Dance Revolution mat into the middle of the floor.

Tenten went first. She selected _Sakura. _The song she always used for a warm up. She hit all the notes even on a higher difficulty.

Temari went next. She wasn't as good as Tenten, but she was still pretty good.

Sakura was just average. Hinata was better than Tenten.

"Your turn!" Temari taunted to the boys.

Sasuke shoved Itachi towards the mat.

"Watch him slip." He whispered to the girls. "Zero co-ordination with his feet."

"I heard that!" Itachi cried, selecting the easy difficulty. He selected the song Tenten told him to. One that wasn't too easy, or too hard.

"Once you beat that one, you can move on to something else." Tenten told him.

Well, he tried at least. His timing was really bad.

Sasuke went next. He didn't do too bad. He finished the song at least.

Naruto stepped onto the mat. He had difficulties with that back arrow, but hey, who doesn't?

Shikamaru went up and tried way too hard. The trick to DDR is to loosen up. If you go stiff, you're not going to move as quickly. He used clunky movements, and he didn't finish the song.

"What a drag." Shikamaru muttered, scratching the back of his head as FAILED popped up on the screen.

Neji surprised them all. He stepped onto the mat and didn't even select the song everyone else did. Instead, he picked the hardest song.

"Neji, that's the hardest song." Tenten told him.

Neji shrugged and bumped the difficulty up a level.

"You're asking for it." Temari laughed.

"Hn..." He said simply.

To everyone's surprise, Neji began nailing the arrows dead on scoring excellent after excellent.

"DUDE!" Itachi cried. "You're tank!"

Neji gave no clue that he heard. He continued hitting the arrows.

"Oh my god." Temari laughed as he continued to dominate DDR. "He might be better than you, Tennie."

Tenten didn't even hear her. She had been staring at Neji ever since he started her jaw half way to the floor.

Neji finished and turned away from the television as a very large and very pretty AA appeared on the screen. He then noticed the looks of awe on everybody's faces.

"What?" He asked.

"Why didn't you tell us you were so good at this game?" Itachi asked him.

"I'm not. I can just play that song." Neji said simply.

"What? But how?" Temari cried.

"Some kid challenged me to DDR back in grade 10. I had never played it before, but I wasn't about to lose to him." Neji said simply.

Hinata laughed. Honestly, she was the only one not surprised by Neji's dance.

"Hinata knows about it. She was the one who watched me practice." Neji sat down on the couch as everyone looked at Hinata.

Hinata shrugged. "It was fun to watch."

"Did you win?" Tenten asked.

"Of course I did!" Neji said simply.

"Holy jeeze, look at the time!" Temari cried staring at the clock. It was already one o'clock in the morning.

"Looks like we're staying here." Itachi muttered, his mouth opening in a big yawn.

"Where are we all going to sleep?" Naruto asked.

"Someone can sleep on the couch down here, two can sleep on the couches upstairs." Tenten told them. "I have a cot in the closet upstairs..."

All of them now totally exhausted, they set up the cot in the middle of Tenten's living room floor, Sasuke and Itachi claiming the two couches. Naruto claimed the cot. Shikamaru claimed the basement couch. Temari and Sakura lived with Tenten, so they claimed their bedrooms. Sakura let Hinata share a bed with her.

"Give me a blanket and I'll sleep on the floor." Neji told Tenten.

Tenten obliged, even though she really didn't approve of people sleeping on floors. But she really didn't know where Neji would sleep if she refused. Neji walked towards the basement door.

Tenten tossed a pillow at him. It hit him in the back of the head. Neji turned and smirked at her. Tenten's heart skipped. Neji picked up the pillow.

"Goodnight," he said as he walked down the basement stairs.

"Night..." Tenten yawned. She walked up to her bedroom and collapsed onto her bed. She didn't even bother getting changed out of her clothes. She was out the moment her head hit the pillow.

**A/N: Well, there's chapter 8. Sorry it took so long to update. Over the last few days I had limited computer time. Not only that, but I wasn't 100% motivated. In fact, I've recently developed a new, and very bizarre, music craze. Two days ago I had a concert, I'm in a band but not a rock band XD. I'm in a school Concert Band. I play flute. We played three Beatles songs, and then the next day we watched a movie on The Beatles. Now, I out of the blue decided I wanted to listen to their music. I know. They're 60 years old...But they're really not half bad XD. Not only that, you'd recognize some of their music! For example, who hasn't heard the song Yellow Submarine? Or Hey Jude for that matter? Yes, I put a Beatles song in this chapter...I'm still listening to them now. I've lost count of their songs XD. But I'm pushing 30 now. I'll get the next chapter out ASAP!**

**P.S. The song in this chapter was SIGN by Flow. You may know it as one of the Naruto Shippuden openings.**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	9. Chapter 9: Invitation

**A/N: Okay, this chapter is where things really start to pick up for The Fifth Element. I'm going to skip the formalities, and just start writing.**

Chapter 9: Invitation

Tenten opened her eyes. All of it was a dream. The Fifth Element had been at her house. It was a very good dream actually. They had played Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band. Tenten realized she wasn't in her pyjamas.

"No way..." She whispered. Tenten tore out of her bed and ran downstairs.

Itachi and Sasuke slept on the couches, Naruto on the nearby cot.

A door opened behind her. Neji came up from the basement, rubbing his eyes. He just about walked into Tenten.

"Morning," He murmured.

"Morning," Tenten agreed, still stunned.

"Is everyone still sleeping?"

Tenten nodded.

"Just to warn you right now, Shikamaru is not a morning person." Neji told her.

Tenten chuckled. "Avoid Temari at all costs, and don't speak to Sakura until she lifts her head."

Neji laughed.

Tenten wandered into the kitchen. "What does everyone like to eat?"

Neji shrugged. "I usually just cook whatever I want, and while I'm cooking everyone gets up."

"Well, what do you want to eat today?" Tenten asked, digging through the cupboards.

Neji thought for a moment, and then opened another cupboard.

"Pancakes," He said and pulled out the box of pancakes.

"Okay, but you make them. I burn them every time." Tenten sighed.

Neji snorted. He began opening random cupboards, looking for the stuff he'd need.

"Bacon and eggs?" Tenten asked Neji, pulling out a pound of bacon and a carton of eggs.

"You bet." Neji said, mixing the pancake batter.

Several minutes later, the kitchen was filled with the smell of pancakes, bacon and eggs.

"It's like I've died and gone to heaven." Itachi said as he walked into the kitchen.

Neji chuckled.

Sakura and Hinata came down the stairs. Sakura had her head down as usual. She was still half-asleep. Hinata looked completely awake and refreshed. Sasuke and Naruto strolled in a few minutes later.

"Someone's got to wake the sleeping dragon." Neji murmured, flipping a pancake in the air.

"I'm not doing it." Naruto cried and sat down at the table.

"Good morning Sakura," Sasuke said to Sakura.

"Uh oh..." Tenten muttered.

Sakura seemed to wake up. "Sasuke! What are you doing in my house?"

Sasuke laughed. "I slept over remember?"

"Oh, I didn't know I was dating you." Sakura replied.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Just go with it. She won't remember a thing when she finally wakes up." Tenten laughed.

"I am awake..." Sakura sighed.

Everyone could tell she wasn't. Her green eyes were glazed over. She was talking and responding to what people said to her, but her conscious was still deep in sleep.

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. "Okay? So we're dating?" Then he snorted.

Sakura's eyes closed and she fell onto Sasuke's shoulder.

"W-W-Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!" Sasuke tried to push Sakura off him.

"Mmm, Sasuke..." Sakura clung to Sasuke like burrs on clothing.

Temari walked into the room. "What's with all the yelling?" She cried.

Sasuke was timidly poking Sakura. "Sakura? Wake up now..."

"Mmm, I love you Sasuke..." Sakura murmured.

"Okay, that's not creepy at all..." Sasuke muttered, his eyes as wide as tennis balls at his predicament.

"Breakfast is ready. Someone wake up Shika." Neji said as he placed a pile of pancakes on the table.

"Where is he?" Temari asked.

"In the basement." Neji replied.

Temari made a beeline for the basement.

"Shh!" Itachi hissed. The room went quiet. They waited.

"GET UP SHIKA!" Temari's voice cut through the air.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT CRAZY WOMAN?" Shikamaru's voice replied

"WHAT? DID YOU JUST CALL ME CRAZY?"

"MAYBE I DID!"

"OH SORRY FOR LIVING! BREAKFAST IS READY, YOU SON OF A-" Temari uttered a string of profanities that would have gotten her suspended in school.

"Wow..." Naruto said simply upon hearing Temari's language.

"I didn't even know she knew that many swear words..." Tenten said with awe.

Temari entered the kitchen again to see the entire group staring at her.

"WHAT?" She screeched.

The group flinched. Temari sat down and began piling pancakes on her plate.

Shikamaru came up a few moments later muttering under his breath. A lovely bruise was forming on his cheekbone.

The group began to eat. Sakura finally came to and noticed whom she was clinging to.

"S-Sasuke!" She cried and leapt off her chair and hit the floor.

There were a couple chuckles, but nobody really laughed at her.

Sasuke stood up. "You've been out of it for a while now." He offered her his hand. "Good thing you're awake."

Sakura took his hand, her face going a brilliant shade of pink to match her hair.

Once everyone had food in their bellies, sanity had been restored to the group.

"Sorry for hitting you, Shika..." Temari said honestly as the boys left the house to return to their house.

Shikamaru conked her in the forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Could've had a V8." He said with a smirk and walked towards Neji's car.

Temari watched the car back out of the driveway. When the car disappeared, Temari touched her forehead and openly blushed.

* * *

Itachi followed Neji through the front door of his house. As the band kicked off their shoes, Itachi's phone went off in his pocket.

Itachi flipped it open. "Hello?"

_Good day. Is this Itachi Uchiha? _The person on the other end asked.

"Yes, who is this?"

_My name is Tsunade from KM Studios._

"You're kidding."

_No. I'm calling to request the appearance of The Fifth Element at the Rising Stars contest this weekend._

"Wait...You want us to be in this...thing?" Itachi was vaguely aware of the stares of his friends.

_Yes. We had an agent at Konoha's Wonderland and he said your band was superb. There's a spot for you if you'll take it. If you win the contest, you will get an interview that will be aired on _The Ino Show_, KM TV's most popular show._

"You're joking..."

_No. Talk with your band and decide. Call back to confirm your appearance by Friday._

"Okay," Itachi replied.

_I hope to hear from you, Itachi._

"Yeah..." Itachi said faintly.

_Have a good day,_

"Yeah..."

_Bye._

"Bye..." The line went dead. Itachi closed his phone.

"What happened?" Neji asked.

Itachi turned to look at the group. "We just got a huge opportunity."

Naruto tilted his head.

"That was KM Studios."

Everyone's jaws dropped.

"They want us to be in their Rising Stars contest. If we win, we'll get interviewed on _The Ino Show_."

"You're kidding!" Shikamaru cried. "We'll be twice as popular if we get on that show!"

"Exactly!" Itachi said flinging his arms in the air. "That's why I say we go for it!"

"YEAH!" Naruto cried pumping his fist in the air.

"How about it guys?" Itachi asked looking around at the group.

Shikamaru sat on the couch.

"I don't know guys..." Sasuke murmured. "I mean, if we get too popular, we won't be able to leave our house."

Neji nodded in agreement.

Shikamaru put his fingertips together, thumbs facing up. The room went dead silent. Shikamaru sat for several minutes before looking up.

"I don't see any harm." Shikamaru said. "It might even be fun. I'm in."

The group looked at Neji and Sasuke.

"I'll have to think about it..." Sasuke told them.

"You'll have to give your answer by Friday." Itachi told him. "Friday's the deadline. And we may not get another chance like this!"

"I said I'll think about it!" Sasuke cried.

"Neji?" Itachi looked at Neji.

Neji gazed at the wall.

"Neji?"

Neji looked at Itachi. "I don't know."

* * *

That night, Sasuke lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. What if they did take this contest? What if they won? How famous would they become? Well, there's only one way to find out, right?

Sasuke rolled over and threw a pillow over the side of his head. He stared at his wall.

_Maybe I will give this a shot..._

* * *

The next day, Neji was once again cooking breakfast. The group had gotten into that routine. Neji cooked the breakfast every morning. Neji didn't mind. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but cooking was fun. You get to make something however you wanted, and nobody could tell you otherwise. There was a rulebook, but that didn't mean you had to follow it. And when you screwed up, sure, the product was awful, but you could laugh at yourself afterwards.

Sasuke strolled into the kitchen.

"Morning, Neji." He said.

Neji nodded. "Morning."

Silence enveloped the room.

"I say we go for it." Sasuke said suddenly.

Neji looked at him. "What?"

"The contest." Sasuke looked at Neji's white eyes. "I say we go for it."

Neji blinked in surprise. Then he smelled smoke. "AW CRAP!" He cried as bacon fat ignited. Neji ran to the sink and grabbed a wet cloth. Sasuke pulled the frying pan off the stove. Neji dropped the wet cloth over the flame. Sasuke stared at the fire building in the frying pan.

"Neji...What now?" He asked.

The smoke detector went off.

"NEJI?" Sasuke called when he realized Neji had disappeared. Neji appeared moments later with a fire extinguisher. He aimed it at the pan and fired the pressurized carbon dioxide at the flame. After two or three blasts, the fire was out, and the extra crispy bacon was coated with something white. Neji guessed it was dry ice from the way it was smoking.

Neji set the fire extinguisher down. "Nice job, Sasuke."

Sasuke put the pan down on the table. "I'll eat some if you will."

Neji laughed. Then he proceeded to stop the smoke detectors screeching.

"What happened?" Itachi asked coming down the stairs.

"Bacon caught fire." Neji said simply waving a magazine in front of the smoke detector. "Sasuke! Open the windows!"

"That was quite a wakeup call..." Naruto sighed coming down the stairs, still in his nightcap. Shikamaru followed him down, looking very bitter.

Itachi looked into the frying pan and raised an eyebrow. "Nice job with the bacon, Neji."

"Didn't I just tell you it caught fire?" Neji cried tossing the magazine on the counter.

Shikamaru nibbled the piece of bacon and cringed.

"So," Itachi began. "Have either of you decided?"

Neji's face hardened.

"I have." Sasuke said. "I say yes."

"All right!" Itachi high fived Sasuke and turned towards Neji. "Neji?"

Said person stared at him. "I still don't know." he sighed.

"You haven't even thought about it have you?" Itachi asked.

Neji continued to stare at him.

"Come on Neji, at least think about it." Naruto told him.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Neji cried.

The group flinched.

"Forget it..." Neji muttered, mostly to himself. He stormed out of the kitchen, shoved his feet into his shoes and walked out the door.

* * *

Tenten walked out of her house.

"See you in a bit!" She called. Tenten walked away from her house and made a beeline for the park. She sighed as the wind blew through her hair. Upon reaching the park, the sound of a grass whistle met her ears. Not only that, but it was a melody of some kind. She decided to follow the sound. She didn't expect to find what she found.

"Neji?" She gasped upon seeing the pale eyed prodigy sitting beneath a tree, with his hands up to his face. Neji looked up at her and put his hands down. He tossed the piece of grass away.

"What is it Tenten?" He asked.

"Nothing. I just came for a walk, and I heard a grass whistle, and I was just wondering who it was."

Neji gazed up at her.

"Is something wrong, Neji?"

"What makes you think that?" He asked.

"You're by yourself. And you look..." She frowned trying to find the right word. "Unhappy."

Neji snorted.

"Did something happen?"

Neji sighed. "We got asked to enter KM Studio's Rising Stars contest. Everyone wants to do it but me."

"And?"

"Well I can't tell them that I don't want to enter! They'll be disappointed."

Tenten sat down beside him. "Why don't you want to enter?"

Neji sighed. "The winning band gets to be interviewed on _The Ino Show_ which will practically make them instantly famous. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Besides..." Neji stopped.

Tenten waited.

"Besides...What?"

Neji shook his head. "Forget it."

"No really Neji. If I didn't care I wouldn't ask."

Neji looked at her with his pale eyes. Tenten's heart skipped.

"I just don't think that my uncle would be happy...that's all."

"That's it?" Tenten was surprised. "But, it's your life. Can't you do whatever you want?"

Neji snorted. "No."

Tenten frowned. "Why not? You're uncle can't control you-" Tenten cut off when she saw the look in Neji's eyes. "Don't tell me he can."

"He can do whatever he wants to me. He can make me do whatever he wants."

Tenten was confused.

Neji pointed to his forehead. Tenten looked at it. She never really noticed how he always had it covered with a strip of cloth.

"I never noticed that you wore that piece of cloth before." Tenten said quietly.

"It's not the cloth." Neji murmured. He hooked his finger on the top of the cloth and pulled it down. "It's what's under the cloth."

Tenten stared at the mark on his forehead. "Come on, that can't be legal!" Tenten cried.

Neji snorted. "In my clan, it's perfectly legal."

"Then...why doesn't Hinata have the same mark?"

"Because she's my uncles' daughter. She's the heir to the throne. She's a member of the main branch."

"What's the difference?" Tenten cried. "What's the difference between you and her?"

Neji began to draw a tree on the ground in front of him with his finger. "The Hyuuga clan consists of a main branch, and several cadet branches." Neji gestured to the tree. "The trunk represents the main branch, and the branches are the cadet branches. The cadet branches are supposed to serve the main branch. To make sure of that they put the mark on their foreheads."

"But...Why?"

"Oh what does it matter?" Neji spat bitterly, wiping the tree away with his hand. "That's just the way it is."

Tenten couldn't believe it. "But...what does the mark do?"

"It's a threat. If we don't do what the main branch says, they can activate it to cause us pain, or even kill us."

"Your uncle doesn't know about the band, does he?"

Neji shook his head.

"Then how do you know how he's going to feel about it?"

Neji pulled the cloth back up over his forehead.

"How do you know what's going to happen?"

"I don't." Neji said simply.

"You're scared to find out aren't you?"

Neji didn't respond.

"Neji, I don't think you should let this get to you. If your uncle doesn't like it, then damn him to hell! You have a talent, Neji! If he can't see that, then he's the one at fault!" Tenten softened her tone. "Besides. You only have one life. You should make the most of it. And even if you have a mark on your forehead that lets your uncle hurt you, well so what?" Tenten sighed. "Go for it Neji. If your uncle doesn't approve, then you can at least say you didn't quit."

Neji looked at Tenten with surprise.

Tenten sighed and stood up. "Sorry to bother you. I'll leave you alone now." Tenten began to walk away.

A hand suddenly wrapped around her waist. She gasped. Neji pulled her into his arms.

"Thank you, Tenten." He murmured.

* * *

Later that day, Neji returned to his house. He looked Itachi in the eye.

"Call that studio back. We're going."

**A/N: Oh yeah! Guess what too? I was listening to music while I finished the chapter, and the moment the above paragraph started, epic music began to play. It was perfect! XD**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	10. Chapter 10: Rivals

**A/N: Itachi has a big role in this chapter. You might be surprised. Oh and I noticed recently that I made Neji have a silver car and made a connection to Twilight. That was unintentional. Personally, Twilight is a ridiculous concept, and I will make fun of it every time I can. Therefore, Neji doesn't own a silver Volvo. It's a silver Honda. You happy? ENJOY!**

Chapter 10: Rivals

"Guys, we're meeting up with the girls, and we're going to the park!" Naruto declared.

"Yeah? How are we going to do that, eh?" Shikamaru asked, emphasising the 'eh'.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, but we should."

Neji came down the stairs.

"Hey Neji," Naruto began.

Neji looked at him. "What?"

"You're best buds with Tennie, right?"

"WHAT?"

"Can you call her and ask if we can meet up with them?" Naruto asked.

Neji rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen.

"What was that?" Itachi asked, straightening his shirt as he walked into the room. "You know Tenten's phone number? You stud!"

A plastic cup nailed Itachi in the forehead. "OW!" Itachi cried.

"No, I don't know Tenten's phone number, and if you call me that again, you'll get more than a plastic cup in the face." Neji growled.

"Chill! I was kidding!" Itachi laughed.

"You're jokes are hopeless, nii-san. Sorry to tell you." Sasuke muttered.

"Well, damn you!" Itachi cried.

A ring tone suddenly tore through the air.

"Oh my god, who's got that song set for their ring tone?" Naruto cried.

Neji opened his phone. "Hinata-sama, how many times have I told you to change your ring tone?"

The group laughed.

_S-Sorry, Neji-san..._ Hinata replied.

"It's fine. What do you need?"

_Um...well we were wondering if you guys wanted to meet up with us somewhere._

"I'm not the one to ask, actually." Neji caught Naruto's eye. "Catch." Neji tossed his phone at Naruto. Naruto caught it.

"Hello?" He said cheerfully.

"Nice ring tone Neji." Itachi snickered.

Neji's fuse blew. "It's not mine, okay, it's Hinata's!" He cried.

Itachi laughed.

"Yeah!" Naruto cried happily. "If we knew Neji had your phone number, we would have conned him into calling you anyway."

Neji rolled his eyes.

* * *

Tenten watched as the silver car pulled into her driveway.

"Yo!" Naruto cried jumping out of the car.

"Yo," Temari laughed.

"Where first?" Naruto asked.

"Jeeze let everyone get out of the car first!" Sasuke cried, stepping out of the car. Neji shut the door to his car, and pocketed the keys.

"Let's just go to the park, okay?" Sakura suggested.

"Let's." Shikamaru agreed dully.

The group began to walk. They got quite a few stares as they strolled down the street. They were unmistakably The Fifth Element, and they were unmistakably taken.

"I love the stares." Itachi laughed. "They're looking at us sideways."

Neji snorted.

The group continued to walk towards the park. It was now in their sights. Tenten noticed a group of four people already at the park. One of them had bright orange hair.

Itachi stopped dead in his tracks. "Guys, we're going somewhere else." Itachi turned around and walked away from the park as fast as he could without running.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Don't worry about it." Itachi said stiffly. The group followed Itachi from the park.

* * *

The orange-haired person watched the large group leave. Up in front, was unmistakably Itachi Uchiha.

"We've found him guys," The carrot-top said with a smile.

Carrot-tops grey-haired companion laughed. "Itachi...You'll have your divine punishment yet."

The other two, one redheaded the other a blonde laughed in response.

* * *

The group ended up at another park.

"Itachi, what's going on?" Sasuke asked him. "I've never seen you like this."

Itachi shook his head. He was biting his fingernails now.

The group looked uneasily around each other.

"Don't worry about it." Itachi said simply. "It's all good."

Nobody believed him.

* * *

That night, Itachi lay in his bed. He couldn't sleep at all.

_Why are THEY back here? What do they want?_

Itachi slid out of his bed. The clock read 5:00 in the morning. The sun was just beginning to rise. Itachi quickly changed out of his pyjamas. He quietly opened his door and walked down the stairs. He pulled his shoes on, grabbed a jacket, and walked out the door.

Itachi walked down the streets, his face hard, and his eyes blazing. He barely encountered anyone, but if he had, they would have gotten out of his way. He arrived at the park where he had seen the orange-haired person. He sat down on the bench, his stomach flipping every time the wind blew. It was dead quiet.

Itachi glanced nervously from side to side. He heard the jangling of a pendant on a metal chain, and he leapt up off the bench and whipped around.

"Good to see you again, Ichi-kun." A grey haired man said.

"I wish I could say the same for you, Hidan." Itachi growled.

Laughter came from his right. Itachi turned his head to see the redhead. "Aw, look at him. Do you see some regret in his eyes?"

"I have no regrets, Sasori!" Itachi spat.

The man called Sasori laughed again.

More laughter from his left. "Ah, if only Pain could see how helpless you look right now!" The blonde laughed.

A twig snapped behind Itachi. "I can see clearly, Deidara." Itachi looked at Pain. The orange haired man with about ten pounds of piercings in his face smirked at him. "Poor Itachi."

"What do you want with me?" Itachi asked Pain.

Pain smiled. "Don't you just love how once you surround someone, they begin to beg for their lives?"

"I'm not begging for my life, Pain!" Itachi spat. "What the hell do you want? Why the hell did you come back here?"

Pain laughed. "We're participating in KM Studio's Rising Star contest." He said simply. "That's why we're here. And as for what we want with you,"

A hand grabbed Itachi's hair and held tight.

"ARGH!" Itachi cried attempting to fight Hidan's grip. Hidan grabbed both of Itachi's wrists and held them tightly enough to cause pain. Itachi continued to fight. Hidan brought his knee into Itachi's gut. Itachi grunted and went limp.

Pain grabbed Itachi's jaw and forced him to look at him. "Now who's helpless?" he asked with a smirk. "Did you ever think this would happen? Did you ever think we'd come after you some day, and punish you for abandoning our little group?"

"I didn't think you would. I knew you would." Itachi growled. "And I didn't care. You were nothing without me anyway! A band without its vocalist is like being in a canoe without a paddle!"

Pain smiled. "Indeed. But it's the same way with everything else too. It's just harder to find a new vocalist than it is to find a drummer, or a guitarist." Pain smirked. "And still, you left us."

"Why do you think? You spent most of your time attacking other bands that were a threat to you! Do you really think I was going to put up with that?" Itachi glared at Pain.

"Ah, Itachi." Pain sighed. "You don't realize the predicament you're in."

"Do your worst, bastard!" Itachi spat in Pain's face. Pain recoiled as it ran down his face. He rubbed it with his sleeve.

"You've just signed your death warrant." Pain growled. Pain waved a finger. Itachi knew this signal. Itachi whipped around, and bit Hidan's shoulder. Hidan yelped and let Itachi go. Itachi blocked Sasori's fist, but got smashed by Deidara's foot. Itachi was fighting a hopeless battle. With every attack blocked, another came from behind.

Pain's knee connected with Itachi's gut. Itachi grunted and fell to the ground. He was quickly surrounded. Itachi did the only thing he could. He pulled his arms up over his head, and lay on his stomach while the people who had once been his friends kicked him over and over. Itachi ignored the stabbing pain in his ribs. A foot made contact with the side of his head, and the world went black.

* * *

Tenten, Temari and Sakura sat at the kitchen table eating their breakfast. They hadn't said a word to each other since they woke up. It was now 7:00. Tenten couldn't shake an uneasy feeling.

"I don't feel so well, guys..." Temari muttered, staring at her food.

Sakura nodded. "I feel really uneasy. I can't stop thinking about those people Itachi avoided. What if they're-" Sakura was cut off by a knock at the door.

Tenten stood up. Who on earth was knocking at this time of the morning? Tenten opened the door and almost screamed.

Itachi stood at her door half bent over clutching his chest. He had a black eye and his nose didn't look so hot either.

"I-Ita-" Tenten began.

Itachi fell.

"GUYS! HELP!" Tenten cried. Temari and Sakura whirled around the corner.

"Oh my god." Temari gasped.

Tenten was trying to pick Itachi off the ground. The two girls could only stare.

"Help!" Tenten cried.

Temari and Sakura proceeded to help Itachi off the ground.

"Ah!" Itachi cried in pain as they lifted him off the ground. Finally, the three girls got Itachi on the couch.

"C-Call Neji..." He gasped.

"Call Hinata, Tenten!" Sakura cried.

Tenten wasted no time. She grabbed her cell phone and hit Hinata's name on speed dial.

_H-Hello?_ Hinata's voice murmured tiredly.

"Hinata! Quick, what's Neji's phone number?" Tenten cried.

_What's wrong?_ Hinata asked.

"Get your ass over here and find out! But first give me Neji's number NOW! It's an emergency!"

Hinata realized how severe the situation was. She quickly recited the number. Tenten wrote it down.

"I'm coming over." Hinata told Tenten. The line went dead and Tenten quickly dialled the number Hinata gave her. The phone rang three times before it was answered.

_Hello?_ Neji's voice asked curiously.

"Neji!" Tenten cried.

Silence for a moment. _Is that you Tenten? Where did you get my number?_

"Hinata gave it to me just now. But that's not the point! Itachi's hurt! He's at my house! Get over here!"

_All of you! Into the car! NOW!_ Tenten heard Neji's voice yell from the other side of the phone.

_What's going on?_ Naruto's voice said faintly.

_Take the phone!_ Neji ordered. _Put it on speaker! Itachi's hurt!_

Tenten heard the grinding of chairs on floor and cutlery hitting plates.

_Is he all right, Tenten? _Sasuke's voice said through the phone.

"I don't know! He's awake, but he's really beat up!"

The sound of car doors slamming met her ear.

Hinata tore through the front door, panic in her eyes. "What happened?" She cried when she saw Itachi.

Neji's silver car pulled into her driveway. Tenten closed her phone, tossed it on the table and ran to the door.

The group tore into the house and ran over to Itachi.

"Itachi, what the hell happened?" Sasuke cried.

Itachi's breath was ragged.

"Dial 911." Neji said.

"NO!" Itachi gasped.

The group stared at him.

"Itachi, you're seriously hurt!" Sakura protested.

"It was them." Itachi gasped. "Them, at the park!"

Everyone stared at him.

"I used to be a member of their band. I left them, and they came back for revenge." Itachi's voice wavered.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Shikamaru cried.

"It's my fight!" Itachi gasped. "I didn't want to get you involved. I didn't want you to worry." Itachi coughed, then cried out in agony.

"That's it." Neji said, pulling out his phone. "I'm calling 911 now."

"NO!" Itachi cried. "If you call 911, we won't be able to play at that contest!"

"Your life is more important to us than that bloody contest!" Neji cried.

"They're going to be at the contest." Itachi gasped. "If you call 911, I'll be in the hospital, and we'll miss it. That's what they want! They want us to miss the contest so they have a better chance at victory!"

"Those dirty bastards!" Shikamaru spat. "Those bloody," Shikamaru began uttering a string of profanities. They waited for Shikamaru to finish.

"Shall I go on?" He asked.

"No that's quite enough." Temari murmured.

"You understand, right?" Itachi gasped.

"Itachi, you're seriously injured." Sasuke told him.

"I know. I can't even breathe properly."

"That's why you need to be in the hospital!" Sasuke cried.

"Itachi, there's five days until the contest." Neji growled. "You'll get out of there before then!"

Neji then ignored all of Itachi's protests, and dialled 911.

Less than ten minutes later, paramedics were on scene. Sasuke rode in the ambulance to the hospital. The rest followed in their cars.

Itachi was admitted to the hospital with a broken rib, and several more ribs fractured. The rest were bruised. Itachi had a mild concussion, and he was covered in bruises. Itachi's injuries were severe, but they weren't life threatening.

**A/N: You have now been introduced to the bastards of the story. If you don't hate them now, you will grow to hate them. Trust me. What I already have planned for the future of this story will bring nasties that you'd never expect. Just know, beating up Itachi is small scale compared to what they do later. You're scared now aren't you? HAHA! You should be.**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	11. Chapter 11: Rewrite

**A/N: Currently, I have nothing to say. Just enjoy the story! :D**

Chapter 11: Rewrite

Neji scribbled furiously on his notepad. No matter what, he would write a new song in less than five days. He even knew what the lyrics would be based upon. He read over what he had written so far. He cursed himself for not paying more attention in poetry class. Itachi had been in the hospital for two days now, and Neji had already been at it for two days. Less than three days were left until the contest. Neji was under a lot of pressure, as the group always built the song around Neji's vocals.

"How are you doing Neji?" Shikamaru asked him evenly.

"Terrible." Neji spat. He tossed his notebook on the table. Shikamaru picked it up and read it over.

"Huh...Not a bad concept..." He commented.

"We have to write a new song just in case Itachi can't get out of the hospital." Neji told him. "We have to write a new song just so we don't have to use two guitars."

Shikamaru laughed and tossed the notebook down. "That would make a good concept too. Sing about how one head is better than two."

Neji chuckled. "Why, because there's no conflict?"

Shikamaru snorted.

Neji picked his notebook up again. "I'm not a poet..." Neji muttered tearing the page out and putting it on the table beside him.

Neji's phone went off in his pocket. He sighed and answered it.

"Speak if you dare." He greeted the person on the other side.

_I dare, Neji. _Tenten's voice said easily on the other side of the phone.

"Just because you have my number now doesn't mean you can call me whenever!" Neji spat.

_Oh man, someone's in a bad mood. What's eating you?_

"Nothing, I'm on top of the food chain." Neji muttered sarcastically.

_So am I._

"I'm not in the mood. Can you leave me alone?"

_I was just calling to ask how Itachi was._

"He's not here! We haven't even gone to see him today!" Neji growled. "He told us to focus on writing a new song so we could play without him at the contest this Saturday!"

_Maybe I can help._

"How can you help? Are you a poet?"

Tenten's laughter reached his ear. Neji's bitterness lifted slightly.

_Neji, I'm awful at poetry. But I am good with words._

Neji snorted. "I'd like to see that."

_Do you want me to come over and help?_

Neji sighed. "My location will not be revealed."

Shikamaru laughed.

_Oh, fine. What are you going to do then?_

Neji sighed again. "Meet me at the park." Neji rubbed his face.

_All right, see you there!_

Neji closed his phone.

"Going to meet Tennie-chan?" Shikamaru taunted.

"What of it? If she can help write this song, I'll take it and run." Neji slipped on his shoes and pulled on his jacket. He stuffed his notebook in his pocket and walked out the door.

* * *

When Neji got to the park, Tenten was already there.

"Hey, Neji." She greeted solemnly.

"Hey." Neji sat down on the bench beside her. He pulled his notebook out.

"That's organized." Tenten commented when she saw the notebook.

Neji didn't answer and flipped to the page of his latest song. "See what you can do with this."

Tenten read it over. "Huh...that's easy to follow."

"What problems can you find with it?" Neji asked.

"It's very plain." Tenten murmured. "And vague. Though I'm not a poet, I do get the concepts of poetry."

"I should have just written a song about how hard it is to write a song." Neji muttered.

Tenten laughed. "I'd like to see how that would turn out."

Tenten wrote on a blank page of the notebook after confirming her understanding of Neji's lyrics. She completely revised the lyrics and gave them a fresh look.

Neji read the lyrics over. "Huh..."

"You should put the lyrics into your own words so you can figure out a melody and rhythm." Tenten told him.

"Maybe you do have promise as a poet," Neji laughed.

"There's no form." Tenten told him. "I just wrote something out. I didn't even rhyme it."

"No, I can do that. You just took my words and gave them sense."

Tenten giggled.

Neji began shifting words around, and changing words in places. Tenten watched him as he tapped his pen and mouthed the words as he went. Suddenly, a low rumbling sound hit their ears. Tenten blushed.

"I heard that." Neji said with a smirk.

Tenten blushed redder. "Okay so maybe I'm a little hungry."

Neji rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone to check the time. "No wonder. It's two o'clock in the afternoon. We've been here for nearly four hours." Neji pocketed his notebook. "Come on. Let's go get something to eat."

* * *

Tenten felt self-conscious as she walked through the streets of Konohagakure beside Neji. Everywhere she looked, people watched them walk down the street. Neji was blatantly ignoring the stares.

Tenten caught the eye of a tall dirty blonde female. She openly glared at Tenten.

Tenten flinched. "Neji, can we go somewhere else?"

"What's wrong?" Neji asked.

"I don't like the way people are staring at me."

Neji caught the eye of the glaring female. The girls face changed instantly, going from full out evil eye, to sweet smile. Tenten watched as Neji glared at the girl. The girl looked away quickly.

_Get a life._ He said without saying a word.

"Don't be so bothered by it, Ten." Neji told her. "They're just angry because they wish they were you."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "No they don't. If they wanted to be me, I'd ask them if they were sane."

"Do you have self-esteem problems?"

"No," Tenten said sternly.

Neji didn't push her any further.

_Wait,_ Tenten thought to herself. _Did he just call me 'Ten'?_

"What do you want to eat?" Neji asked suddenly.

"Doesn't matter." Tenten murmured still pondering why Neji decided to give her a nickname.

"Have you ever been to Ichiraku's?"

"Ichiraku's?" Tenten looked at Neji sideways.

"Ichiraku Ramen."

"The name is vaguely familiar, but I've never been there."

"Then you've been missing out." Neji grinned at her.

Tenten looked away quickly. "So, this Ichiraku place is good?"

"Good doesn't even cover it. Nothing compares to Ichiraku's ramen."

"Not even blueberry buttermilk pancakes?" Tenten asked, as that was her favourite thing to have for breakfast.

Neji looked at her. "Okay, that's a completely different level."

Tenten laughed. "So blueberry buttermilk pancakes beats Ichiraku's ramen?"

"Blueberry buttermilk pancakes murders every other existing breakfast. Ichiraku ramen murders the lunch list."

Tenten laughed again.

Eventually they made it to Ichiraku Ramen. Neji slid into the shop easily.

"Hello, Neji!" the chef called joyfully when Neji walked in. "It's been awhile!"

"I've been busy." Neji said simply.

"I'm sure you have been." Then the chef noticed Tenten. "Treating your girl, or-"

"No," Neji said stiffly. "She's not my girlfriend. She's helping me."

Tenten couldn't help but blush. She sat down beside Neji.

"What'll you have then?" The chef asked them.

"The usual." Neji replied.

Tenten stared at the complicated menu. This was why she never went to restaurants. It took her ages to pick. Tenten finally gave up.

Neji smirked at her. "Make that two," he said trying not to laugh.

The chef turned his back on them and began to make the ramen. Neji became aware of the chefs daughter staring at him.

"Can I help you?" He asked her. Tenten looked up.

The girls' eyes were filled with concern. "Did something happen to Itachi-kun?" She asked.

"What makes you think that?" Neji asked.

"I thought I saw him limping down the street two days ago." She said. "The sun had barely even risen, and he didn't look good."

Neji didn't answer. The chef was now looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What happened to Itachi?" The girl asked.

Neji sighed. "He got attacked by a group of old friends. He's alive, and he's recovering."

The girl put a hand over her mouth. "Oh that's terrible!"

The chef put the ramen in front of Neji and Tenten.

"Thank you," Neji and Tenten said in perfect sync.

Just as Neji broke his chopsticks, his cell phone went off making him sigh. He flicked it open.

"Hello?" He asked.

_Neji, where are you?_ Shikamaru's voice came through the phone.

"I'm eating lunch."

_You've been gone for a while. How's the song coming?_

"All right."

Shikamaru sighed. _I just talked to Itachi's doctor. He's recovering smoothly, but slowly. I don't think he's going to make it to the contest._

"Well, don't lose hope yet." Neji told him. "It may turn out all right."

_Yeah, _Shikamaru's voice sighed dully. _Well, I guess I'll let you eat now. See you later!_

"Bye."

The line went dead. Neji closed his phone and took a bite of his ramen. He barely tasted it as it went down.

"Who was that?" Tenten asked him.

"Shika." Neji sighed. "He doesn't think Itachi's going to make it to the contest."

"I'm sure he'll be all right." Tenten said. "That contest means a lot to him. Knowing him, he will bug the doctors until they let him out for a few hours to play at the contest."

Neji shook his head. "That doesn't happen."

Tenten looked at him sadly, and tried her ramen. She was awed by how good it was. She could have cried. She took another mouthful of the al dente noodles.

Neji stared numbly at his ramen. What would they do if Itachi couldn't play? Sure, they were writing a new song that they could play with one guitar, but it was so improvised; there was no way it could work. They barely had time to write it, let alone practice.

Neji felt his chances of defying his destiny slipping away.

**A/N: Ah, another chapter complete! I really should be working on my ecology journal for Science, but that journal is the dullest project I have ever received. Go outside, and write down what you see, and make connections to these bizarre concepts that people learned just by watching. I mean, watching the clouds like Shikamaru is one thing (yes I have watched the clouds before, and it's really fun!) but watching grass that never changes? Watching a butterfly float from dandelion to dandelion? Watching ants build their hill? Now that, is boring. At least clouds change from time to time .**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	12. Chapter 12: Beginnings

**A/N: With the contest approaching, will Itachi manage to get out of the hospital? Or will The Fifth Element miss the contest? Find out by reading: THE FIFTH ELEMENT This story is about five boys who-**

**OH JUST GET TO THE STORY!**

**Sorry, I just had to do that XD.**

Chapter 12: Beginnings

"ARGH!" Neji growled, now yanking on his already messy hair. That clock was taunting him. The alarm was now going off, signalling that it was time for Neji to get out of bed and go make breakfast. The pressure in his head increased with every beep of that alarm. If it kept up, he would blow.

Neji got up out of his desk chair with enough force to send it crashing to the ground. He grabbed the clock off his bedside table, and yanked out the cord. He smiled as the numbers went dark.

"Stupid clock," Neji muttered. He tossed it onto the bed and picked up his chair. He looked at the work he had done on the song. It was better than the first version, but it still had a long way to go before Neji would consider it complete. He cursed his luck. Why did everything have to be like this? It was always him. It was as if something was constantly holding him back. Keeping him on the leash.

It was the curse. The Hyuuga clan's curse mark. It was holding him back and not letting him go anywhere.

Without really thinking about, Neji screamed his frustrations to the sky, not caring who heard.

* * *

Neji's eyes snapped open.

_A dream..._ He thought to himself. He sat up. He had fallen asleep at his desk. But why had it felt so real? Neji looked at his bedside table to check the time. The clock wasn't there. It was lying on his bed, the numbers dark.

If Neji wasn't scared before, he was now.

_I'm losing it..._ Neji thought. _I'm totally losing it._

Someone knocked on his door. "Neji?" Shikamaru's voice called through the door.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Are you all right in there?"

"I'm losing my mind, Shika." He replied honestly.

"Forget it Neji. If Itachi doesn't get out in time, we're not going to the contest. Don't stress yourself anymore. You freaked us all out this morning. You've been sleeping all day."

Neji felt guilty. They must've heard his screams. "I'm sorry." He said softly, still slightly embarrassed that they had seen him at his weakest.

"Don't sweat it. We're all stressed. The contest is tomorrow. We're not going to work anymore. We're going to wait and see what happens."

Neji nodded to himself.

"Mind if we come in?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, it's fine."

Shikamaru and Naruto walked in the room. They sat on the floor.

"I guess this is to be expected, right? I mean, forming this band was a joke right?" Naruto piped up suddenly.

"Yeah, originally. But now, we're enjoying it." Neji said softly. "I never thought I would."

_**Flashback**_

_Neji, Shikamaru and Naruto wandered into the park near Konoha High. They still had their backpacks on, as they hadn't even been home yet. Neji was in his final year of high school. Naruto and Shikamaru were a year behind. The group was only a group of three before the band started. If you were to see the group, physically Shikamaru, Naruto and Neji were no different from the way they are now. But if you were to stick around long enough, you would notice how Neji never smiled. You would notice how Shikamaru's eyes didn't glint the way they did now. You would notice that Naruto was a bit more serious._

"_I'm so bored." Naruto sighed. "Are you guys going to see that talent show?"_

"_Talent shows are such a drag. They're no fun unless you're in them." Shikamaru muttered._

"_Why don't we do that then?" Neji asked._

_Naruto and Shikamaru looked at Neji as if he'd grown two heads._

"_What?" Naruto asked._

"_Why don't we form a band of some kind, and just..." Neji shrugged. "Enter."_

_Shikamaru snorted. "Oh yeah sure. We put a drum set in front of Naruto, a guitar in my hands, and put you in front of a microphone."_

"_Whoever said I wanted to be a vocalist?" Neji asked._

"_Oh come on Neji. You have the best voice out of all of us." Shikamaru said with a smirk. "That's a well known fact."_

"_Guys, really." Naruto protested. "If we do happen to form a band, we'll just screw up and people will laugh at us."_

"_That's the idea." Neji said, and for the first time, he grinned mischievously._

_Shikamaru and Naruto looked at each other._

"_On second thought...I kind of like it." Naruto grinned, his eyes glinting._

"_We'll need a bass player though." Shikamaru pointed out._

_Naruto looked around. "Hey! Let's ask Sasuke!"_

"_Sasuke?" Shikamaru looked to where Naruto was looking, and saw the raven-haired prodigy walking home._

_**Flash-forward**_

Sasuke sat in the corner of the basement. He always came down here when he wanted to be by himself. His brother was in the hospital, Naruto was constantly quiet, and Shikamaru was losing faith.

Sasuke closed his eyes, and let the blackness of the basement envelop him. His mind ran over the day they first formed their band...

_**Flashback**_

"_SASUKE!" Naruto's voice screeched suddenly. Sasuke turned his head to see the knucklehead charging towards him._

"_What's up?" Sasuke asked him._

"_How would you like to be in our band?"_

"_Band?"_

_Neji and Shikamaru appeared moments later._

"_Yeah! It was Neji's idea!"_

_Neji snorted. "We were all bored. I just came up with the idea to randomly form a band and enter the school talent show."_

_Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "But we'll suck!"_

"_That's the idea!" Shikamaru cried throwing his arms up. "We'll suck, and we'll get a good laugh."_

_Sasuke laughed. "That's bad. I'm in."_

"_Will you play bass?" Naruto asked._

_Sasuke shrugged. "Why not? My brother has one, and he sort of taught me to play it. What are you guys playing?"_

"_I'm playing drums!" Naruto cried._

"_Why am I not surprised?" Sasuke muttered._

"_Shika's playing guitar and we've officially dubbed Neji the singer!" Naruto finished._

"_Against my will." Neji said, shaking his head._

"_All right, I'll take us to my brother! He knows a thing or two about being in a band." Sasuke began to run off._

_Neji, Naruto and Shikamaru followed Sasuke as fast as they could._

_**Flash-forward**_

Itachi stared at the ceiling of his hospital room. He took slow breaths to make sure the pain in his chest didn't return. The pain was fading slowly, but it still prevented him from really breathing. Every time he yawned from lack of oxygen, the pain would split his sides once again. Silently, he damned Pain, Hidan, Sasori and Deidara to hell. They ruined his life while he was part of their band. He didn't even realize it at first. He didn't realize exactly what his band was until he watched the group beat up the vocalist for another group. It was that day that he quit the band.

Itachi inhaled some of his spit. He broke into an agonizing coughing fit. He groaned when it finally settled down. After he quit the band, he had spent three years by himself, strumming his guitar, and teaching Sasuke how to play the bass, to occupy his time. The day Sasuke had come running to him, Neji Shikamaru and Naruto tailing him, was the day Itachi, metaphorically speaking, came back to life.

_**Flashback**_

"_Nii-san! Nii-san!" Sasuke tore into the house and dumped his backpack in the corner._

"_What, what?" Itachi came out of the kitchen, munching on a piece of toast. "Is something wrong?"_

"_We're forming a band!" Sasuke cried._

_Itachi noticed the three other boys standing behind Sasuke._

"_A band?" Itachi asked._

"_Yes." Sasuke replied._

"_Why?"_

"_So we can enter the school talent show and get a laugh!"_

"_So, you're forming a band for no apparent reason?"_

"_YES!" The four boys cried simultaneously._

_Itachi smiled. "Count me in. Let's go."_

_Itachi lead the group to the garage of his house. Little did he know, all four boys would soon be living in this exact house, and they'd have formed The Fifth Element._

"_What's everybody playing?" Itachi asked them._

"_Guitar," Shikamaru said easily._

"_Drums!" Naruto cried._

"_I've opted for bass..." Sasuke murmured._

"_They've dumped me in vocals." Neji shrugged._

_To their surprise, Itachi had all their instruments. Itachi never mentioned his old band._

"_What do you want to play?" Itachi asked them when the group had sat down on the floor._

"_Let's play SIGN, guys!" Naruto cried._

"_YES!" Shikamaru replied._

_Itachi pulled out his iPod. "This one?"_

_SIGN began to play._

"_That's it." Naruto said instantly._

"_There's a couple more songs by Flow, you know?" Itachi said, and he picked up his guitar, and struck the first notes of GO!_

_The group laughed. Then they began to sing along to the guitar._

"_All right," Itachi said with a smile when the song ended. "It's time for us to figure it out. But first, we need a band name."_

_The group went silent for a few moments. Neji suddenly stood up, and went over to the white board on the wall. He uncapped a marker and wrote 'Uzunara Hyuchiga' on it._

"_What the heck is that?" Itachi cried._

"_Our last names massacred and squashed together." Neji said with a grin._

"_I like it." Shikamaru laughed. "Ridiculous, yet effective."_

_It took the group less than a week to dissect GO! and play it out individually. When they finally put their parts together, it came out brilliantly. The group of five whooped, and met in the middle for a high five. A custom that still hasn't left them._

_They began to figure out SIGN. It took just a little longer, but they pulled it off._

"_YES!" Shikamaru cried when they played the last note of SIGN._

"_We are so ready!" Naruto flipped his drumsticks between his fingers._

"_Enter us in that talent show." Shikamaru ordered, his eyes for the first time glinting. "We're going to have a riot."_

_A few weeks later, Konoha High's talent show began. There was a massive line up. 'Uzunara Hyuchiga' was on last. They had intentionally signed up to go last._

_When it was their turn, they filed on stage, and hooked their instruments up._

"_What's up?" Itachi asked the school. "You've never seen me before, but some of your teachers have." Itachi scanned the crowd. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Robinson. I was in your math class. And Mr. Trites! How's it going? I was in your drama class!"_

"_Shut it, Itachi." Sasuke growled into his microphone._

_The teachers around the gym got looks of shock on their faces._

"_Can we start already?" Shikamaru sighed._

"_All right, all right." Itachi muttered._

_Naruto clapped his drumsticks together to start up the song. Neji sang the first words to SIGN. The whole gym cheered. The song poured out of the joke band perfectly. Nobody guessed that the band was just an attempt to make five boys less bored than they were before. As 'Uzunara Hyuchiga' played, the band found that they were really having fun. Shikamaru bobbed his head, Naruto pounded the drums with twice as much passion as he had when the band first got together. The thrill of being on stage got to the group, and they had more fun than they had bargained for. When the song ended, cheers practically broke the sound barrier._

"_Encore! Encore! Encore!" The crowd began to chant._

"_Oh no..." Itachi cried._

_Neji made eye contact with the teacher who had organized the talent show. The teacher was clapping, and had a wide smile on her face. The teacher nodded at Neji. Neji looked around at the group._

"_I think we just got permission to do an encore..." Neji said with surprise._

_Shikamaru grinned. "Let's do it!"_

"_But which song do we play?" Naruto cried._

_Itachi smiled. "GO!"_

_Neji smiled and turned back to the crowd. "You get your encore!" he screamed into the microphone._

_The crowd roared._

_**Flash-forward**_

Itachi was pulled out of his trance by the nurse entering his room. The nurse was tailed by his doctor. The doctor went over his medical record.

"You're looking good, Itachi." The doctor said. "Tomorrow, you're going home."

Itachi's eyes widened. Then he whooped, causing pain to tear through his chest again. "Ow..." He looked up at the doctor with a smile.

"You can go home tomorrow, if you promise to take it easy."

"I will!" Itachi said happily. "Call my band for me, will you? Tell them I'm coming home."

"Sure thing."

* * *

Shikamaru's phone went off in his pocket. "Hello?"

_Shikamaru Nara?_

"Yes?"

_Itachi's coming home tomorrow morning._

Shikamaru leapt off Neji's floor. "ITACHI'S COMING HOME!" He screamed.

"WHAT?" Naruto and Neji cried in perfect sync. Then they stood up as well.

Shikamaru tore down the stairs his phone still in his hand. "SASUKE! ITACHI'S COMING HOME!"

Sasuke came up from the basement his eyes wide. "Really?"

At that moment, the entire group went wild. They whooped and they jumped over furniture. They settled down when Naruto knocked over a lamp and broke it.

**A/N: Ah, don't you just love a happy ending? Hope you enjoyed the tale of how the band was formed. REVIEW PLEASE! :D**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	13. Chapter 13: Trapped

**A/N: I currently have a dull aching in my abs and shoulders...Hmm...*thinks about careers class yesterday where I was the wheelbarrow in a wheelbarrow race* Yeah that's why...I fail at the wheelbarrow race...If you want to wheelbarrow race with me, you be the wheelbarrow. My upper body strength (with a record of five consecutive push-ups, and a grand total of zero sit-ups in one minute) is something to be desired...**

**So that's my tale of woe! On with the show! (Holy heck! That RHYMES!)**

Chapter 13: Trapped

Shikamaru stood up from his trademark pose. He had been kneeling in the grass outside the house for several minutes now. He had been strategy planning for the most efficient way to get them, and their equipment to KM Studios.

"Neji, call Tenten and get her to pick Itachi up from the hospital. Get her to take him straight to KM Studios. Sasuke, wear your bass into the car. I'll do the same with my guitar and Itachi's guitar. Neji, stick your microphone stand in the back along with the bass drum, suspended symbols and hi-hat. If you can do it, fit the snare in beside the bass drum. The tom drums we'll fit in and around the passenger seat up front. Any questions?"

The group stared at Shikamaru with awe.

"Good. Get moving!"

Neji scrolled through the incoming call history on his phone. He figured the last call he received was from Tenten, so he picked the top one.

_Hello? _Tenten's voice met Neji's ear.

"Tenten, can you pick Itachi up from the hospital and drive him to KM?" Neji asked.

_S-Sure, Neji..._

"Call history." Neji said simply, answering her question before she could ask it.

_Ah._

"See you there."

_Yeah._

Neji closed his phone. "Tenten's getting Itachi." He called and began helping to load up the car.

* * *

Tenten pocketed her phone. "Guys, we're going to pick Itachi up from the hospital."

"All right!" Temari put her hand in the air.

The group climbed into the car, leaving the passenger seat free so Itachi could get in quickly. Tenten backed out of her driveway and went towards the hospital. The air seemed to hum with excitement.

"Man, this contest is going to be big, isn't it?" Sakura said suddenly. She had been constantly shifting ever since they got into the car.

"No, Sakura. That's why the winner gets interviewed on _The Ino Show_ making them totally famous!" Temari replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh ha ha..." Sakura responded.

"Relax guys..." Hinata said timidly. Regardless of how shy she was, she was incredibly excited about the whole thing. Though it was just The Fifth Element's reputation on the line, the girls felt as if their reputation was on the line too. They weren't exactly excited with them, they were excited for them.

Tenten pulled into the hospital parking lot. She quickly jumped out of the car, and shut the door. She ran right through the front doors. She wasn't surprised to see Itachi sitting in a chair by the reception desk.

"Neji called and told me you were coming." Itachi said with a smirk. Then he stood up, cringing a few times.

"Have you signed out already?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah." Itachi walked over to her. "Don't make me run. It's painful enough to walk."

Tenten almost laughed. "Will you be able to play?"

"No amount of pain is going to stop me from playing." Itachi muttered as they walked towards Tenten's car. "The only thing that could stop me, is if I'm dead."

"What if you lost your fingers?"

"I'll use my feet."

Tenten laughed. "Is that even possible?"

"I'll make it possible." Itachi's tone was so stern, and so sure, that Tenten didn't know what else to say.

Temari opened the door from the inside for Itachi. Tenten stood by him just in case he needed help getting in the car. Itachi got in the car feet first so he didn't have to bend over.

"You've got that down to a fine art." Tenten heard Temari say as she closed Itachi's door.

Tenten jumped in the drivers' seat as Itachi pulled his seatbelt on without looking, and without bending down.

"No jerky movements I beg of you." Itachi told Tenten.

"Itachi, I've taken Canada's Worst Driver's water tank challenge at one point. I barely spilled a drop. Feel better?" Tenten told Itachi. Truth was, she had to take that test before she could get her licence.

"Neji did too." Itachi said simply. "And sometimes he drives like a maniac."

Tenten eased her foot on the gas and pulled slowly out of the parking lot. The trick driving smoothly was to accelerate slowly, and brake slowly. Tenten did that most of the time. Until some dumb ass driver decided to cut Tenten off causing her to slam her foot on the brake.

Everyone in the car flew forward. Itachi yelped at the forward motion.

"Sorry, Itachi." Tenten said honestly. Then she stuck her arm out the window and flipped the bird to the driver in front of them.

Temari laughed.

After a few more minutes, Itachi's pain face subsided, and they pulled into KM Studio's parking lot. Actually, they attempted to do so. The guard stopped them.

"What band are you?" The guard asked, holding a piece of paper.

"We're not in a band, we have someone from The Fifth Element in here." Tenten told the guard.

The guard peeked in the driver window. Tenten leaned back so he guard could see Itachi.

"Itachi Uchiha?" The guard asked.

Itachi nodded. "That's me."

"You can go in, but the girls can't."

Itachi frowned. "Why not? They our supporters."

"Do they have a permit?"

Itachi sighed. Then he pulled his phone out and hit a few buttons.

"Neji? We have a problem at the gate."

Momentary pause.

"They won't let the girls in."

_Bull crap._ Tenten faintly heard Neji's voice say. Itachi held the phone out to the guard. Tenten took the phone and handed it to the guard so Itachi didn't have to lean over.

* * *

Neji waited for the guard to take the phone.

_Hello?_

"Are you the guard?" Neji asked.

_Yes, I am the guard._

"Let them in. They're with us. Honestly."

_They have no permit._

"What permit to they need if we give them permission? Isn't that what 'permit' means?"

_They have your permission, but they do not have official permission._

At that moment, someone with a KM Studio uniform on approached their car.

"Is everything all right over here?" The woman asked.

"No," Shikamaru told her. "They won't let our support group in."

"Well, why ever not?"

"They don't have a permit." Shikamaru said shaking his head. "They have Itachi with them too, so if they don't get in, we can't get in either."

Neji shut his phone. "This is just great." Neji pocketed his phone and trudged off to the parking lot entrance.

* * *

Itachi was fighting with the guard in an attempt to get the girls to in when Neji arrived. Tenten watched as he approached, his face tense, his pale eyes blank. He walked boldly up to the guard.

"Why aren't they able to get in?" He said easily, keeping his temper in check. "Listen, my cousin is in there, and her friends are with her. Not only that, but Itachi just got out of the hospital, and he will not walk all the way to the doors from here."

"Well, he's going to have to, because these girls aren't getting in."

"Have you ever been in a war, sir?" Neji asked politely.

The guard glanced around. "Is that a threat?"

"No." Neji replied. "It's a final thought."

A stern voice sliced through the air suddenly. "What the hell is the hold up?"

The guard stood straight up as a stern faced blonde woman approached the gate. "T-Tsunade-sama, these girls want to get in and they don't have a permit."

"Clearly they're escorting Itachi Uchiha." The woman told the guard. "Let them in."

"Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama..." The guard then proceeded to open the gate.

"Yes!" Itachi hissed quietly as Tenten drove forward. Neji stayed behind long enough to thank the woman before dashing up to jog beside Tenten's car.

"Really Neji?" Tenten said, staring at him from her peripheral vision.

Neji laughed. "Can I hitch a ride on the roof?"

"Pff, no." Tenten replied.

Neji and the car made it to the parking space that Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke had left reserved for Tenten's car by standing in it.

"HEY!" Shikamaru cried when Tenten's car rolled into sight. The group got out of the way just as Tenten pulled into the space. Itachi crawled out of the car. His band mates ran towards him. Itachi suddenly got a petrified look on his face. "Don't hug me!" He cried.

The group stopped dead in their tracks.

"Right...Sorry..." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. The band began unloading the drum set onto a trolley specially designed for...well...drum sets. Itachi took his guitar from Shikamaru and slid it carefully over his shoulders.

"Still hurts?" Shikamaru asked when he saw Itachi cringe.

"You have no idea."

The reunited group strolled through the front doors of KM Studios.

"Holy WOW!" Temari cried upon seeing the marble floors and the vast sunroof. "It's huge!"

The group admired the architecture of the place.

"Never thought I'd see your face again." A voice said loudly and clearly.

Itachi stiffened beside them. The group looked towards a group of five people. One had orange hair, one was blonde, another a redhead, one grey-haired. The fifth was female, and her hair was a soft colour somewhere between blue and purple.

"Pain..." Itachi glared at the orange haired man.

"This is your band? What a sad, sorry bunch of losers." Pain laughed. "Why don't you introduce me?"  
"I don't feel like it." Itachi said and began to walk away.

The grey-haired man blocked his way.

"What do you want from me now, Hidan?" Itachi snarled. "You've already beaten me to a pulp. What more could you want?"

"Clearly we didn't beat you hard enough." The blonde said, cracking his knuckles.

"Chill, Deidara. Remember where we are." The redhead told the blonde.

Deidara rolled his eyes. "I don't need you to tell me that, Sasori."

Itachi stepped in front of his band. "What do you want Pain?"

"Nothing." Pain said easily and shrugged. "We just want you to drop out."

"What for?" Itachi asked.

"You're going to lose anyway. It will save you the agony of losing."

"Who said we were going to lose?" Itachi said with a smirk.

"You're the vocalist. That much I know. That was always your talent. But we've found a better vocalist than you." Pain put his arm around the blue-haired girl. "Konan here sings like an angel."

Konan blushed slightly with the complement.

Itachi smirked. "Sorry Pain. I'm not the vocalist in this band."

Pain looked at Itachi. "What are you then?"

"I play guitar. The vocals I do, are the backup ones."

Pain's eyes wandered across The Fifth Element. Then they fell on Neji.

"Oh so the Hyuuga's the vocalist, is he?" Pain began to laugh. "How pitiful!"

Neji twitched slightly.

"If he can sing half as good as he looks," Pain snickered. "Then we'd better buy ear plugs!"

Pain's band howled with laughter.

"Did you just call me ugly, or was that a misunderstanding?" Neji asked.

Pain stopped laughing and looked at Neji. "You Hyuuga's are all the same. You're so..." Pain sighed. "Technical."

"Better that I finished High School than be a drop out, don't you think?" Neji said with a smirk.

Itachi's jaw dropped. So did everyone else's.

"Cute." Pain replied with a grimace. "Are you a man?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing in general." Pain smirked. "If you are a man, then you must be gay."

Neji visibly twitched. "What did you just call me?"

Pain rolled his eyes. "Want me to say it louder? YOU MUST BE GAY!"

Neji tossed his mic stand on the ground. "What the hell makes you think that?"

"Look at that hair. No man grows their hair halfway to his ass!"

"It's a Hyuuga custom, you bastard."

Pain laughed. "How sad! It's custom in your clan to be gay!"

Neji lunged at Pain. Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously grabbed him. Though it was three against one, they struggled to hold Neji back.

"Let me go! They insulted my clan!" Neji snarled.

Tenten stepped in front of Neji, making him stop trying to pull forward. "Neji! Don't start a fight here!" She told him.

Neji stopped fighting and glared at Pain. Then he shook off his friends arms.

"Aw, what a weenie." Pain laughed. "He has to rely on his girlfriend to break up his fights."

"That's enough, Pain." Itachi told him.

Pain stepped towards Itachi until he was dead in front of him. "You going to make me?" Pain hissed. "You're in no state to tell me what to do." Pain poked Itachi in the ribs making him cringe. Pain laughed and turned to Neji.

Neji stood his ground and glared at Pain.

"You going to take a swing at me?" Pain taunted.

"Go buy some tic-tacs and brush your teeth." Neji snarled.

Pain smirked. "You still got your girlfriend fighting your battles?" Pain looked at Tenten. Tenten glared at him.

"My how unladylike." Pain said with a smirk. Pain suddenly grabbed Tenten's wrist. Before Tenten could do anything, Neji lashed out and grabbed Pain's wrist so hard, that he actually yelped when he let go of Tenten. Neji spun Pain around, pinned both arms behind his back, and put him in a chokehold.

Tenten stared at Neji in fear. Never in her life had she seen such a look of fury on anyone's face.

"You listen to me, you son of a bitch..." Neji growled, his voice barely a whisper. "You deserve more than what I'm giving you now...You insulted my family, then you laid a hand on one of my friends...You beat up Itachi, and put him in the hospital...I should beat the crap out of you, you bastard..."

Pain gagged. Hidan tried to go rescue Pain, but one glare from Neji sent him scurrying back to the rest of the group.

"If you ever harm my band again, if you ever hurt my friends again, and if you ever insult my clan again...I will make your life a living hell...do you understand me?"

Pain gagged again.

"I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Y-Yes..." Pain gagged.

Neji let go of Pain and threw him towards his band. The band took one look at Neji, and booked it away from The Fifth Element.

**A/N: Neji's raw fury unleashed! I think it's just as hard to tick Neji off as it is to really tick me off. You can get me to yell, but you will have to hit a raw nerve to get my full, uncapped fury. That's about as rare as a flying pig XD I'm a pretty mellow person. Which leads me on to a question that just has to be asked...What ticks you off the most? For me, it's when I tell someone not to do something, and they do it anyway after saying something like "Why not?" That really gets on my nerves...**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	14. Chapter 14: Competition

**A/N: Have you ever randomly picked up a ten-foot pole and poked a complete stranger with it?**

**Neither have I, but it sounds like a lot of fun! XD**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 14: Competition

Neji stormed away from the group, heading for who knows where.

"Neji!" Shikamaru called, running after him.

"Don't talk to me!" Neji snarled. Shikamaru stopped dead in his tracks. Neji walked out the front door of KM Studios.

Tenten watched him go.

"Tenten," Itachi said, suddenly beside her. "You should go after him."

"Why me?" Tenten asked. "Besides, he said not to talk to him."

"You stopped him from fighting Shika, Naruto and Sasuke. You should be able to calm him down."

Tenten sighed. "Fine, I'll try." Tenten turned and walked out the door to look for Neji.

* * *

Neji sat in his car with his forehead pressed into his hands. It was the first time in ages that he had lost his temper like that. He was brought out of his trance by a gentle tapping noise. Neji looked out the window and saw Tenten standing outside the car.

Neji rolled down the window. "What?" He asked, his voice coming out sounding bitter.

Tenten twitched slightly. "Itachi told me to come find you."

"I'm fine, Tenten." Neji said harshly. "I'm just ticked off."

"I can see that." Tenten hesitated. "Can I come in?"

There was a click as Neji unlocked the doors. Tenten walked around to the passenger door and opened it, and sat down.

"Are you all right, Tenten?" Neji said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Tenten looked at him. He turned his eyes on her. Tenten's face burned and she quickly looked away.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No." Tenten replied honestly. "He just startled me. That's all."

Neji nodded. There was a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Did I frighten you?" Neji asked.

Tenten was taken aback by the question. "You helped me Neji. Why would I be scared of you?"

Neji rubbed his face. "I don't usually lose my temper like that. I feel like hell now." Neji put his hand down. "I don't even want to perform anymore."

"Don't say that Neji!"

"I'm dead serious, Tenten."

"You just need a pick-me-up."

Neji sighed. "Like what?"

"What do you like to do?"

Neji rubbed his face again. "All I want to do right now, is go home and curl up in a corner or something."

Tenten thumped Neji on the back of the head. "I don't think so. You're playing in this contest." Tenten opened her door, walked to the driver's side, and pulled Neji's door open. "Come on, out of the car."

Neji stared at her incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"Out of the car." Tenten repeated.

"I don't want to get out of the car."

"Don't make me drag you out."

Neji ignored her.

"Don't make me mess up your hair."

Neji glanced at her and turned looked through the windshield again.

Tenten reached in, grabbed a fistful of his hair and messed it up.

"HEY!" Neji cried and slapped her hand away.

Tenten laughed at his new Mohawk. "How rock and roll!" She laughed.

Neji tried to pat his hair down. It wasn't working. "Great. Thanks Tenten."

"Oh come on. Out of the car, and I'll lend you my hairbrush."

* * *

Tenten eventually coaxed Neji out of the car and back into KM Studios. After Neji fixed his hair, they hunted down the band. They had been sent to a soundproof room to rehearse.

"Nice to see you again Neji." Itachi greeted him when they walked into the room.

Neji nodded in reply.

Tenten sat down with her friends.

"Tamed the dragon, huh?" Temari whispered to her.

"I heard that." Neji said from across the room.

"Sorry, Neji." Temari said honestly.

"So are we going to rehearse?" Sasuke asked.

Neji sat down. "I'm not in the mood."

Itachi buzzed his lips. "Why don't we just have a pep rally then?" Itachi pulled out his iPod and proceeded to hook it up to the amplifier. Itachi selected a song, and the _Hamster Dance_ began to play.

Naruto and Sasuke laughed and immediately began to dance to it. The girls laughed at their hopeless attempts at dancing. Shikamaru jumped up and immediately proceeded to pull the Potato Masher. Naruto did the Scuba Diver. All Itachi could do was move his head from side to side. Temari and Sakura jumped up and began to do the Funky Chicken, laughing while they did. Hinata and Tenten joined moments later. Neji was being a party pooper.

Tenten got sick of seeing him sitting on the sidelines feeling sorry for himself, so she walked over to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him off the bench, ignoring his protests.

"You're not sitting down!" Tenten ordered him.

Neji rolled his eyes. Tenten knew he wouldn't dare hit a girl, so she felt safe pushing her limit. She grabbed Neji's arms and forced him to dance. The group laughed at him.

"Poor Neji." Itachi said with a grin on his face. Itachi switched the song to Michael Jackson's _Thriller._ The group immediately began doing the zombie. Itachi proceeded to do the Moonwalk. He nailed it.

"Nice Itachi!" Sasuke cried.

"CLEAR A SPOT!" Naruto cried. The group backed away, and Naruto proceeded to do a knee slide, before break dancing.

"Yeah Naruto!" Sasuke cried. He immediately joined Naruto in the break dancing. Temari followed, but epically failed at it. Tenten heard a faint laugh beside her. She turned her head to see Neji, with his hand over his mouth.

Shy Hinata suddenly stepped forward, dropped to the floor, and did the worm.

Itachi started to laugh. "OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!" He cried.

Even Neji was laughing now.

"You do it Neji. You do it better than me!" Hinata told him.

Everybody whooped. Neji shook his head, dropped and wormed right off the ground. Tenten was amazed that the room stayed intact with how loud the laughter was.

Itachi was now crying from both pain, and from laughing so hard.

Tsunade suddenly walked into the room and raised an eyebrow. Itachi yanked the iPod cord from the amp.

"This is...New..." Tsunade stared around at the group. "I hope you're all warmed up?"

"We haven't even picked up an instrument." Shikamaru said with a shrug.

"Your loss. All bands are to meet back stage."

* * *

The girls broke away from The Fifth Element to stand in the crowd.

"Oh shoot, I forgot!" Tenten turned and ran out to her car.

"Well save your spot!" Sakura cried.

Tenten ran out the doors and made it to her car. She popped the trunk and pulled out the posters she had made. Then she ran back into the crowd, and handed the posters to her friends.

"Nice, Tennie!" Temari said happily, when she saw the "GO SHIKAMARU!" sign.

* * *

Neji sat with his band backstage.

"Which song is it again?" Neji asked.

Itachi held up his iPod. Neji read the song on the screen. Then he nodded.

A band was called out. Neji watched as they walked out on stage with their guitars and drumsticks. Everyone could hear each other's performances. The bands did their best not to let the pressure get to them. The band would go up, play their song, and then be judged by the judges.

Bands went by faster than the groups would have wanted.

Neji watched as Pains band wandered on stage.

_Next up, is a band from Amegakure! Please welcome, Black Death!_

"Yikes, what a creepy name." Naruto muttered.

The group listened to their thrashing guitar.

"Metal..." Sasuke murmured.

Neji twitched when their vocalist began to sing.

"She sounds like Evanescence." Shikamaru said with a smirk.

Neji began to get nervous. The vocalists before this group sang out of tune. Either they sang sharp, or they sang flat. This vocalist sang perfectly.

"Relax, Neji." Sasuke told him. "She may sound good, but I guarantee it, she doesn't have half the passion for music that you have. Personally, I think that's the main thing."

"Well said Sasuke." Itachi complemented.

"What good is passion if someone sings better than you?" Neji asked bitterly.

"Oh, Neji." Itachi sighed. "The thing is; a musician is there to help listeners feel the music. Dancers do the same thing. They pour their emotions into their performance, and the crowd feels that emotion. You pour more emotion into the performance than anyone else I've ever seen. That's because you love what you're doing. We all love what we're doing. We're not in this to be famous; we're in this to have fun. Remember that." Itachi patted Neji on the back. "And that's what separates us from some of the other bands. Who cares if we sound like crap? When we first formed this band, we expected to fail epically. We were in it to have fun. And we still are." Itachi said confidently as Black Death's song ended.

Neji smiled. "Thanks, Itachi."

"You're welcome."

"The Fifth Element! You're on!" Someone called.

"Let's go guys." Neji said confidently and stood up.

They wandered out onto the stage and they passed Black Death along the way. The group ignored them. The curtain was down, but they could hear the cheers. They died down quickly.

"Put your hands in the middle," Shikamaru ordered.

The group smiled and put their hands on top of each other, ready to do their newly formed pump up cheer.

_This next group hails from Konoha itself. I give you, The Fifth Element!_

Cheers erupted as the curtains rose.

Shikamaru lead the cheer. "WHEN I SAY GO, YOU SAY FIGHT! GO!"

"FIGHT!" The group yelled.

"GO!"

"FIGHT!"

"WHEN I SAY WIN, YOU SAY TONIGHT! WIN!"

"TONIGHT!"

"WIN!"  
"TONIGHT!"

"WHEN I SAY BOOGIE, YOU SAY DOWN! BOOGIE!"

"DOWN!"

"BOOGIE!"

"DOWN!"

Then they broke into song, putting the cheer together.

"Go, fight, win tonight, let's boogie on down all right, all right! Go, fight, win tonight, let's boogie on down all right, all right! YEAH!" They finished.

The group took their places behind their instruments. "Pep talk. Don't ask." Itachi muttered into this mic, making the crowd laugh. "His idea." Itachi pointed to Shikamaru who shook his head.

"GO SHIKAMARU!" Temari's voice screamed from the crowd. Shikamaru looked up and started laughing at the giant 'GO SHIKAMARU!' sign.

Neji saw Tenten grab the sign and flip it over. 'GO NEJI!' It said. Neji smirked.

Naruto clacked his drumsticks together, to count the group in. Itachi and Shikamaru immediately shredded their guitars. Moments later, Naruto began to pound, along with Sasuke's bass line. The guitars quieted, but the rhythm was still there. This song was the loudest song they've ever written, and it included having Neji sing very loudly, sometimes pushing the fine line between singing loudly and screaming. Neji added his voice to the mix. The crowd cheered. The chorus started up, and Neji suddenly found the microphone stand to be an obstacle, and decided to pull the microphone out and ditch the stand. He found it much easier to sing without the bloody thing anyway. Who doesn't sing better when they don't have a microphone stand to tango with anyway?

When the second verse began, Itachi began singing in harmony with him, and Shikamaru echoed his words on occasion. The chorus began, and ended with a long note that wasn't quite a scream, but nor was it a gentle note. Shikamaru shredded his guitar like the guitarist he was. 'GO SHIKAMARU!' popped up in the crowd again. Shikamaru's solo was drowned out by a sudden screeching as Itachi took the stage and tore the air with a series of trills, and chords. A new poster appeared in the back: 'ITACHI ROCKS MY SOCKS!' was divided up on four different panels, and each girl held one above their heads. Neji watched Itachi grin and hit the final note.

'ITACHI ROCKS MY SOCKS!' suddenly flipped as Neji began to sing the bridge, and turned into 'THE FIFTH ELEMENT FOR THE WIN!' Neji smiled when he finished the bridge and Naruto smashed the tom toms into oblivion without actually breaking them. Neji sang the final chorus. When the song ended, the whole crowd cheered.

The Fifth Element walked to the middle of the stage and pulled their signature high five.

"I didn't know you rocked socks, Itachi." Sasuke laughed.

"Oh shut up!" Itachi muttered, even though he was grinning.

The crowd began to chant. It took the band a few seconds to realize what they were chanting.

"WINNERS! WINNERS! WINNERS! WINNERS!" They cheered. 'THE FIFTH ELEMENT FOR THE WIN!' appeared again.

The cheers died down as the judges began to judge, as that was their job, and that's why they're called judges.

Tsunade spoke first. _A very promising band you are. Very promising. My agent didn't lie_. Tsunade then held up her score for the band.

The crowd erupted into cheers at the sight of the 10.

The judge in the middle stood. _It has been a great pleasure to watch you play. If this weren't a competition, I would call for an encore- _The judge was cut off as the crowd erupted into cheers again. When the cheers died down, the judge cleared his throat and went on. _As I was saying, you could really feel the energy coming off you guys. It's infectious. Keep practicing though_. The judge held up his number.

The crowd cheered at the sight of the 9.5. Neji could just faintly hear some booing going on though.

The third and final judge stood. _Incredible. Absolutely incredible. You're definitely a love it or hate it band. There's no middle option for you guys. And it just so happens, that I love it!_ The judge held up her score.

The crowd roared. Neji got lightheaded at the sight of their second 10.

"Twenty-nine point five?" Sasuke cried.

"Aw, man I think I'm going to cry..." Shikamaru rubbed his eyes while he was smiling like crazy, laughing.

"Were we honestly that good?" Neji asked.

"Neji, you were amazing. The way you ditched that stand..." Itachi gave a fake sniff. "I'm so proud of you man!" He said with a mock sob. "Now get over it!" Itachi finished with a drill sergeant voice.

The Fifth Element left the stage. The chances of a band scoring a perfect thirty were next to impossible. They had this in the bag.

* * *

When all the bands went, the top five bands went out on stage. The top five included The Fifth Element and Black Death.

_In fifth place, with a score of twenty-five..._ The band that won fifth place began to scream before the band name was even announced. _Yes, you guys..._ The announcer finished. The crowd laughed.

_In fourth place, is Water Under the Bridge, with their score of twenty-five point five!_

"We need to seriously change our name." Itachi heard one of the band members say.

_In third place...Is Blizzard! With their score of twenty-eight!_ Blizzard made a sound that sounded like tires screeching.

Naruto decided to make the same noise for a laugh.

"Guys...We're either in second place, or we won this thing." Itachi said softly so Black Death couldn't hear.

_In second place..._ Nobody in the room breathed as the announcer paused for drama. _Is..._

Neji's heart began to pound.

The Fifth Element was looking around at each other, their eyes wide.

_No, I'm sorry. _The crowd gave an audible sigh.

_The WINNER! _The crowd held its breath again. _Why tell you who's second, when you can just say the winner?_

"GET ON WITH IT FOR GOODNESS SAKE!" Hidan screamed at the announcer.

"Give us our prize so we can go home already!" Deidara added.

The announcer cleared his throat._ The winner, of Konoha Music Studios Rising Stars contest is..._

Naruto grabbed the snare drum and proceeded to do a drum roll.

_Thank you...The winner is..._ Pause again.

_The Fifth Element!_

The room exploded as hundreds of people cheered.

The Fifth Element could only look at each other in shock. Black Death walked off the stage. Finally, it kicked in.

Naruto screamed, and leapt right off the stage and into the crowd. He laughed as the crowd pushed him around in a full circle and put him back on the stage.

"I have always wanted to do that!" He screamed. Music filled the room as Itachi played the _Hamster Dance _in celebration and did the Moonwalk across the stage, causing more cheers to erupt.

Neji unplugged the iPod.

"HEY!" Itachi cried.

"HEY!" Neji screamed in response. "HAY IS FOR HORSES!"

Itachi whinnied. The crowd laughed.

Tsunade came up on stage.

"Well done! You deserve it!" Tsunade gave each band member a slip of paper. "You all ready have sponsors!"

Neji read the paper. Apparently, he was wanted in a clothing ad.

"You get the clothing thing too?" Naruto asked peeking over his shoulder.

"I think we all did, Naruto." Sasuke said.

"Holy..." Shikamaru's voice said with awe. They realized why a moment later. A very shiny trophy was being carted over to them.

"Can I kiss it?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke slapped him on the back of the head. "Hell no! It will probably tarnish!"

"Only silver can tarnish, Sasuke." Shikamaru reminded.

"You know what I meant."

"I now present this trophy to the winners of Konoha's Rising Stars competition! Can I have a big hand for THE FIFTH ELEMENT!"

The crowd cheered again. Naruto ended up receiving the trophy first. After a moment, he passed it to Sasuke, who passed it on to Shikamaru who passed it to Itachi, who passed it to Neji.

"Thanks." Neji said and walked away with it.

The crowd roared with laughter.

"NEJI!" Shikamaru cried.

The group followed Neji through the crowd. The crowd was reaching out to them. Neji tucked the trophy under one arm and high fived every hand he could. Behind him, Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi and Shikamaru were doing the same.

"We're celebrating tonight!" Shikamaru cried when they reached their biggest fans.

The four girls followed The Fifth Element out the doors, along with their instruments, shiny trophy in hand.

**A/N: I had someone ask me what Neji writes his songs about. I'll leave that to you to think about. I am awful at writing songs, and poetry isn't my forte either. Now why am I relating poetry to song writing? Because they are technically the same thing. Songs require just as much care in writing as writing poetry does. The easiest way to think about it is like this: A poet is a musician who can't sing.**

**Two lovely chapters in one night! I hope you're happy -_- XD Kidding**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	15. Chapter 15: Celebration

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in awhile...Reading other stories. Plus the biggest freaking accomplishment ever! I unlocked Itachi in Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution! :D So I've been whooping ass as Itachi. It's like bam bam bam bam, Itachi appears behind enemy "you're in the way" he says, and stabs enemy in the back with kunai. And this isn't your average stab! This looks more like a poke than a stab XD. Then you do the Itachi Spinney Move where he comes plummeting from the sky spinning like a top XD. If you've ever played that game as Itachi, you'll know what I'm talking about... Oh schmuck! The story! :O**

Chapter 15: Celebration

"We're going to our house this time." Itachi announced, he was actually jogging towards the car, but he barely felt the pain in his ribs. Itachi clambered into Tenten's car.

When The Fifth Element loaded up Neji's car, the group reversed from the parking lot and drove for their house.

Tenten mostly followed Itachi's directions. They finally pulled up to a sweet house in the suburbs of town. Neji was already rolling up the garage door, and the band was putting their instruments in the garage.

"To the basement with us!" Naruto cried, tearing through the front door and almost falling down the basement stairs. Nobody could stop smiling.

"Holy cow!" Sakura cried upon seeing the massive speaker system in the basement.

"Why do you think we came here?" Itachi cried.

The group began moving the furniture so there was a nice large square of hardwood floor to dance around on. Itachi hooked up his iPod, put it on shuffle and hit play. The first song that played was Cotton Eyed Joe.

Tenten rushed to the center, put her hands on her hips and immediately began dancing the Cotton Eyed Joe.

"Yeah Tenten!" Temari cried. Nobody knew the dance steps except for Tenten. But that didn't stop Naruto and Sasuke from attempting to copy Tenten's moves. Neji began to clap in time with the music. Eventually, Tenten grabbed Sasuke, who was on her right, linked arms with him and skipped in a circle. The group laughed. Sasuke put a hand over his face and walked to the side, laughing so hard, he was doubled over with laughter. Tenten continued the dance. Neji and Shikamaru joined the dance a moment later, trying to decipher the movements. Temari leapt into the dance a few moments later. Tenten grabbed Temari this time and skipped in a circle. Temari was laughing when she turned her head and saw Neji and Shikamaru skipping in a circle, and Naruto skipping with an invisible dancer. The group launched into the final moves and the song ended.

The basement exploded with cheers. The unmistakable rhythm of Queens _We Will Rock You_ filled the basement.

Neji, being the only one who actually knew the lyrics off by heart, sang the verse.

_Buddy you're a boy make a big noise_

_Playing in the street gonna be a big man some day_

_You've got mud on yo' face_

_You big disgrace_

_Kicking your can all over the place_

_WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_ Everyone sang simultaneously

_WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_

Neji kept the song going

_Buddy you're a young man, hard man_

_Shouting in the street gonna take on the world someday_

_You've got blood on yo' face_

_You big disgrace_

_Wavin' your banner all over the place_

_WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_

_Sing it now!_ Neji cried

_WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_

_Buddy you're an old man poor man_

_Pleading with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day_

_You got mud on your face_

_You big disgrace_

_Somebody better put you back into your place!_

_WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_

_Singing!_

_WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_

_Everybody WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_

_WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!_

_All right!_

Everybody broke into a fit of air guitar. The band cheered when the song ended. Itachi selected a song on his iPod.

The entire group whooped as _We Are the Champions _began to play. As usual, the band let Neji kick it off.

_I've paid my dues_

_Time after time,_

_I've done my sentence_

_But committed no crime_

_And bad mistakes,_

_I've made a few_

_I've had my share of sand kicked in my face!_

_But I've come through!_

_And we need to go on, and, on and on. _The rest of the group sang over Neji.

_We are the champions, my friends._

_And we'll keep on fighting, till the end_

_We are the champions, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! _Everyone sang.

_No time for losers, cause we are the champions! _

_Of the world! _The group let Neji hold the note.

The group cheered. This had been one of their favourite songs for a long time. And so, they had long since divided up the parts.

_I've taken my bows_

_And my curtain calls,_

_You've brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it_

_I thank you all_

_But it's been no bed of roses_

_No pleasure cruise_

_I consider it a challenge before the whole human race_

_And I ain't gonna lose!_

_And we need to go on, and on, and on, an on _Naruto, Itachi , Shikamaru and Sasuke added.

Neji grabbed their trophy off the table and held it over his head while he sang the chorus.

_We are the champions, my friends!_

The group began to laugh.

_And we'll keep on fighting, till the end_

The rest of the band joined in. _We are the champions, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!_

_No time for losers! Cause we are the champions!_

_Of the world!_ Itachi sang, and Neji came back in with the chorus.

_We are the champions, my friends_

_And we'll keep on fighting till the end._

_We are the champions, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!_

_No time for losers cause we are the champions!_

Just like it did in the song, the group let the moment hang, and didn't sing 'of the world.'

The girls cheered.

"That was amazing!" Sakura cried jumping up and down.

Shikamaru laughed. "That song is the one the humans who survive the next ice age would sing."

The group howled with laughter.

"Of course, that'll be us." Naruto laughed.

The group laughed again.

"I was kidding!" Naruto laughed. "We'd be dead by then anyway."

Neji put the trophy on the table again.

"Not a bad idea Neji...I wish I had thought of that." Sasuke laughed. "Picking the trophy up."

"Now what?" Naruto asked.

"Let's play Twister!" Tenten cried spotting the Twister game on the shelf.

"No more than two at once." Itachi warned, pulling the game off the shelf. Tenten eagerly spread the mat out.

"Boys versus girls!" Itachi called suddenly. "Best three out of four."

"What if it's a tie?" Temari asked.

"If it's a tie, then it's a tie." Itachi shrugged and set the spinner in front of him.

Naruto stepped up to the mat. "I'm going first!"

Hinata stepped up to challenge Naruto. She pulled off her socks, and stretched her limbs.

"Right foot on green!" Itachi called. Hinata and Naruto put their right foot on a green circle.

"Good," Hinata and Naruto said at the same time.

Itachi spun again. "Left hand on red." Naruto and Hinata bent down and put their hand on a red circle. That was difficult as Red and Green were both on the outside.

"Right foot on Red."

Naruto and Hinata were now literally crouching on one leg and one arm.

"Left foot on green."

"Ugh!" Naruto groaned practically doing the splits. Hinata laughed at him. The splits for her were easy.

"Left foot on yellow."

The two moved their feet.

"Right hand on blue." Naruto and Hinata's hands were now crossed over each other.

"This is getting painful!" Naruto cried.

The game went on. After awhile, the two managed to position themselves awkwardly. Naruto was stretched right out, his abdomen facing up, while Hinata just happened to have her head right below him.

"Left hand on green." Itachi said.

Naruto groaned, and did his best not to let his two feet, both on blue, slip as he twisted himself like a corkscrew to get his left hand on green. His right foot came off the mat.

"Naruto's foot came off!" Temari cried.

Hinata crawled off the mat and let Naruto fall to the ground. Naruto stood and sat on the couch while round two began.

After five minutes, Twister had turned Sakura and Sasuke into a human knot. It was now a battle of wills to see who would wipe first, as there was no way they could get free of the knot.

"Right hand on yellow!" Itachi called. Sakura tried to move her right hand, but the moment she lifted it, she went straight to the floor, her head hitting the floor with a painful _thud._

While Sasuke ran upstairs to get ice, Temari and Shikamaru stared each other down.

"It's time to get you back for that time on the Scrambler." Shikamaru said with a smirk.

Temari laughed.

The game began and picked up slowly. But when it did, the two teenagers were in the worst predicament. Neither teens were phased, but the rest of the group was laughing at their awkward position.

"Just spin the bloody wheel!" Shikamaru growled, his cheeks flushing slightly.

Itachi spun the wheel. "Right foot on blue."

Temari struggled to put her right foot on the blue circle.

"GAH!" Shikamaru wobbled and toppled right on top of Temari.

"OW!" Temari cried.

Shikamaru rolled away, and sat up laughing. "Thank the gods I'm out of that!"

"Do you hate me that much?" Temari laughed.

Shikamaru smirked. "Yeah actually."

"You jerk!"

Shikamaru chuckled.

Neji and Tenten stood up and walked to the mat.

"Neji's the master, just to let you know." Itachi laughed.

"So is Tenten!" Sakura told him.

The game went on for a good ten minutes. The two stuck to their side of the mat as best as they could, but in order to make certain moves that would bring them better balance, the two had to tread into each other's territory.

Tenten tried not to let her face flush too much whenever Neji's arm brushed her when he moved. The game went on for another ten minutes.

"Aren't you guys getting tired yet?" Itachi asked with a look of shock on his face.

"I could do this all day." Neji laughed. His breath brushed Tenten's arm, making her face heat up.

"Right hand on blue."

Neji and Tenten made a move for the same circle and their hands brushed. Tenten quickly re routed her hand and put her hand on a completely different circle.

"Left foot on green."

Tenten was now twisting herself into a very uncomfortable position.

"Right foot on blue."

"You're kidding! Both of my hands are on blue!" Neji cried putting his right foot on blue. Tenten had to stretch herself to get the blue circle. If their left foot had to go on blue, they were screwed. There was almost nowhere to put their feet.

"Right hand on yellow." The two shifted. Tenten noticed Neji twisting himself just to get the yellow circle.

"Left hand on red." Neji could only get it with his fingertips. Tenten did her very best.

"Left foot on red."

The two collapsed at exactly the same time. The moment they shifted their foot, they fell and hit the deck.

"Who won that one?" Temari asked.

"I have no idea." Itachi replied.

"Neji, get off my leg." Tenten said stiffly.

"Then you get off my arm!" Neji protested. "I can't sit up until you get off my arm!"

Tenten sat up and Neji got off Tenten's leg.

Itachi went back over to his iPod and fired up _Thriller_ again.

The group began to do the zombie again.

Shikamaru smirked at the group. He was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. He looked at his watch. It was ten o'clock at night. Shikamaru sighed, put his hand down, stuffed his hands into his pockets, turned and walked upstairs. Temari was the only one who saw him go. She shrugged it off, thinking he'd be back soon. Ten minutes later, Shikamaru still hadn't returned to the group. Temari glanced at the group who were still dancing away, laughing at each other's hopeless dance moves. Temari smiled. No wonder Shikamaru left.

Temari walked up the stairs into the hallway. She decided to make a right, even though she really didn't know where Shikamaru could have gone. She found herself in the living room. She saw movement to her right, and looked at the sliding glass doors that lead out into the backyard balcony. Shikamaru sat on the balcony railing, staring at the sky. Temari slid the door open. Shikamaru didn't turn.

"Shikamaru?" Temari said timidly.

Shikamaru looked at her. "Hey." Then he turned his eyes to the sky again.

Temari looked at the sky and saw countless stars. "Watching the stars?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru didn't take his eyes off the sky. "There's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight."

"Really?" Temari pulled herself up onto the railing beside Shikamaru. "Where is it?"

"It's the Perseids meteor shower." Shikamaru told her.

"Uh, okay?"

"Watch the sky. That's all you have to do."

"So will they just rain down, or what?"

Shikamaru laughed. "No. This one doesn't work that way. One will just shoot by from time to time."

As if on cue, a light streaked across the sky.

"Whoa..." Temari gasped. She was so shocked, she forgot to make a wish.

"Did you make a wish, or what?" Shikamaru laughed.

"No I was too surprised to."

Shikamaru laughed again.

The two continued to stare at the sky. If anybody were to walk by, they would see two teenagers sitting on a railing, stargazing. If someone were to ask what they were looking at, they would find out they were watching a meteor shower.

It was five minutes later when another streaked across the sky, this one longer.

Before Temari had even registered what was happening, her subconscious made a wish for her. She only realized what the wish was after the thing disappeared.

"That's just plain awesome." Temari said with awe.

Shikamaru laughed. "Yeah...But you don't know awesome until you see Jupiter through a telescope."

"You've seen Jupiter?" Temari looked at Shikamaru with shock.

"Yeah. I watched it for at least an hour. I couldn't take my eyes off it."

"That's awesome..."

"Itachi thinks I'm obsessed with the sky." Shikamaru said with a smirk, watching another meteor streak by.

"Why?" Temari asked.

"Because, during the day I like to lie on the ground and watch the clouds."

"That sounds boring."

Shikamaru looked at Temari with a smirk on his face. "Is this boring?"

"Huh?" Temari's cheeks flushed.

"Watching the sky for meteors. Is that boring for you?"

"N-No..." Temari shifted her gaze.

"Then you can take watching clouds."

"But at least watching a meteor shower gives you a bit of satisfaction from time to time..." Temari said, watching another meteor streak across the sky.

"So can watching the clouds." Shikamaru chuckled. "One time, I saw a cloud that was the exact shape of your head."

"W-What?" Temari stared at Shikamaru like he was insane.

"I'm not kidding." Shikamaru pulled out his cell phone and showed Temari a picture.

"You took a picture of it?" Temari gasped.

"Why not? I thought it was funny."

Temari looked at the picture of the cloud and almost laughed. She had to admit, it did look like her head.

"Only you would notice something like that..." Temari muttered.

"What was that?" Shikamaru laughed as he put his phone back in his pocket.

"Your head's shaped like a pineapple." Temari told him.

Shikamaru smirked. "I know. It's been proven that people who's heads are shaped like fruit are smarter than the general population."

Temari blinked at him. "What?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Have you noticed that Neji's head is shaped like a mango?" He watched another meteor fly across the sky.

"What?" Temari laughed. "I think everyone has a mango-shaped head!"

Shikamaru smirked at her. "I know. I'm just kidding." He turned back to the sky.

Temari continued to watch the sky. She suddenly felt something touch her hand. Temari twitched as Shikamaru put his hand over hers.

Temari swallowed, finding it hard to focus on the sky. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, only to realise, he was doing the same thing. Temari looked away quickly, her face burning. She looked back at him after a few seconds. Shikamaru was still looking at her. Temari looked down.

Shikamaru smirked at her as her face turned red. She looked tentatively up at him again. This time holding his gaze.

Temari was aware of the fact that he seemed to be getting closer. Her breath caught in her throat when Shikamaru's hand softly touched her cheek. Temari closed her eyes as their lips met in a soft kiss.

"SHIKAMARU! TEMARI! Where are you guys?" Naruto's voice called from inside the house. Temari and Shikamaru leapt away from each other. Shikamaru flipped off the railing and went into the house.

Temari quickly pulled herself together and went into the house, closing the sliding door behind her.

**A/N: Yeah, I know...A bit of a rip off...But I'm going to be brutally honest with you. I'm terrible at romance scenes XD. They're just so dang hard to get on paper! It's like: no that's not good enough...and that's overkill...That makes no sense...there's no connection to that...Now what? *uneasy laugh* Comedy comes easier to me than romance...Probably because I'm in my second year of high school, and I've never had a boyfriend XD. Ah well...Maybe I'll get better as the story goes on.**

**REVIEW PLEASE :)**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	16. Chapter 16: Remembering

**A/N: *cough* Now what? No seriously...I don't know what to do with this next chapter O.o OKAY! After five minutes of thinking, now I know what to do!**

Chapter 16: Remembering

Tenten opened her eyes. She was lying on something that just wasn't quite her bed. She turned her head and saw an unfamiliar living room.

_Oh yeah..._ She thought faintly to herself. _I slept over at Neji's..._ Tenten twitched slightly. _I mean, at The Fifth Elements house..._

Tenten sat up and stretched her arms.

"Good morning." A voice said.

Tenten looked up and saw Neji standing in the doorway to the living room.

"Morning," Tenten murmured, rubbing her eyes. She stood up and followed Neji into the kitchen.

"Do you always make breakfast in the morning?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, what about you?" Neji replied pulling a bunch of ingredients from the cupboards.

"Yes. I'm always the first one up." Tenten replied helping Neji find what he needed.

Neji chuckled. "Same here."

"What's for breakfast this morning?"

"I thought I'd make pancakes." Then he smirked at Tenten. "The blueberry buttermilk kind."

Tenten laughed. "Oh really?"

Neji rolled his eyes. "Everyone's addicted to them so..."

"Who's addicted?"

"Itachi, Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke." He replied. "And obviously you."

Tenten gave Neji her crooked grin.

Neji began mixing ingredients in a large bowl while heating up the griddle. Tenten meanwhile began cooking the bacon.

"Be careful, Tenten. Last time bacon was cooked in this house, it caught fire." Neji told her.

Tenten laughed. "Ouch, that's a fail."

Neji began pouring the pancake mix on the griddle. Tenten had to admit, Neji was the pancake master. He knew exactly how long they had to stay on, and he never burnt it.

Tenten tried to focus on cooking the bacon right, while her brain screamed to smell the pancakes. They smelled so dang good.

"I smell...Blueberry pancakes!" Itachi cried stepping into the kitchen.

"Yes you do." Neji replied simply.

Hinata strolled into the kitchen, followed by Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke took a great sniff. "Neji, I hope you'll always be around to cook us breakfast." He sighed.

"Hey, I don't plan on going anywhere." Neji reloaded the griddle.

At that moment, Shikamaru and Sakura filed into the room. Sakura still had her head down. Sasuke glanced at Sakura uneasily as she sat down beside him.

Itachi began to snigger.

"You don't seem to be in any more pain, Itachi." Sasuke commented. "You're laughing now."

"It still hurts Sasuke." Itachi lifted his shirt slightly to show off the bruises that were now yellowing.

"OW!" Shikamaru cried staring at the bruises, his mouth open slightly.

Itachi dropped his shirt. "Finally someone understands my pain."

Sakura began to murmur in her half sleep.

Sasuke looked at her, as if waiting for her to latch onto him as she did last time.

"Is Temari not up yet?" Shikamaru asked suddenly.

"Nope." Tenten replied, putting the bacon on a plate with paper towel.

Shikamaru grinned mischievously and rubbed his hands together. "Payback time!" He murmured.

"Basement." Itachi told him.

Shikamaru strolled into the basement with a smirk on his face. He bent down in the sleeping girls face.

"Hey sleeping beauty, wake up." He taunted.

Temari groaned. "Go away..."

Shikamaru poked her. Temari didn't even respond. Shikamaru went around to the other side of her and poked her nose. She slapped his hand away, and rolled over. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. He scratched his chin thoughtfully, and then smirked to himself. Shikamaru leaned over to Temari and softly kissed her.

Her eyes actually opened this time. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her.

"GAH! SHIKAMARU!" She cried.

Shikamaru laughed at her. "Catch me if you can." Shikamaru ran up the stairs. When he slowed down upon reaching the living room, he was surprised to see Temari after him.

"Oh Shoot!" he gasped and ran through the sliding glass door, and closing it before leaping the railing and ducking into the area where one of the basement windows were, then sliding the window opening, and snapping it shut again. Shikamaru crept back up the basement stairs and ducked back down upon seeing Temari's angry face walking by.

"I lost him!" her angry voice cried.

"How the hell did you lose him?" Sasuke's voice laughed.

Shikamaru sat down on the top step of the staircase. "You lost who?"

The group laughed upon seeing Shikamaru sitting calmly on the top step.

"B-But..." Temari was awestruck. "But HOW? I saw you run out the door and jump the balcony!"

Shikamaru grinned.

"He's genius. You can't catch him. We've all tried at one point." Itachi chuckled. "He always disappears over the balcony and then appears somewhere else in the house. We have no idea how he does it."

"Sometimes it's the front door," Neji added. "Other times he comes down the stairs from upstairs. And as you've seen, he comes up from the basement."

Temari snorted and rolled her eyes. "That's obvious. He runs out the door, jumps the balcony, disappears, and when you're back is turned he goes through a window. You just have to figure out which one he's going to go through."

The group looked around at each other.

Shikamaru shook his head and smirked. "Nope." He lied easily. He wasn't ready to have his secret revealed yet. "Can I have some pancakes now?" Shikamaru sat down at the table.

Sakura suddenly fell over, and was now leaning against Sasuke.

"Not again..." Sasuke murmured to himself. "Sakura, sit up." Sasuke tried to push Sakura back up into her chair. It was futile, of course. She immediately latched onto him.

Sasuke sighed.

The group began to laugh at him.

"You guys are so cute together," Temari taunted with a smirk.

"Oh shut it." Sasuke growled, his usually pale cheeks were slightly pink.

Sakura came to about five minutes later. On impulse, Sasuke grabbed the back of her shirt just as Sakura pulled her signature: Scream "SASUKE", quickly jump away, and fall on the floor. However, because of Sasuke's hand on the back of her shirt, she didn't topple over.

"Stay." He ordered her and took his hand back to eat his pancakes. Sakura was blushing furiously as she chewed her pancakes.

"Hey," Itachi said suddenly. "What day is it today?"

Neji looked at him and frowned. Though he was asking for the date, his eyes were somewhere else.

"It's August 21st. Why?" Neji answered.

"Just wondering." Itachi replied. He stuck the last of his pancake in his mouth, got up from the table and washed off his plate.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked him with a mouthful of food.

"To the garage." Itachi said simply. The group heard the garage door close. A few moments later, Itachi's guitar filled the silence.

"You okay, Neji?" Naruto asked him.

Neji glanced up at him. "Yeah. But I get the feeling that something's not right with Itachi."

"This is probably the first year you've seen it." Sasuke said with a shrug. "Itachi always gets depressed around this time of the year."

"I wouldn't say he's depressed." Neji murmured. "He's just not all here. There's a difference between depression and your mind being elsewhere."

They listened to Itachi's guitar from in the kitchen.

"He just keeps shredding away on that thing." Shikamaru muttered. "He's already way better than me..."

"Don't let it get to you." Sasuke told him. "I can guarantee it; he's just playing random notes right now."

* * *

Itachi concentrated on his fingers. The more he focused on what notes he was hitting, the clearer his mind became. Sasuke suddenly came through the garage door. Itachi looked up at him and stopped playing.

"What is it Sasuke?" He murmured.

"Nii-san? Are you all right?" Sasuke asked.

I'm fine, Sasuke. You don't have to worry about me."

"You never tell me anything." Sasuke frowned at Itachi. "Every year, around this time, you go into this...state where you just lock everyone out, and hide yourself."

Itachi smiled softly, and beckoned him over. Sasuke lost his frown and walked over to Itachi. Itachi jabbed Sasuke in the forehead.

"Sorry Sasuke. It's nothing I'd want you to get worried about." Itachi told him. "It's my problem."

Sasuke rubbed his forehead. "Why do you always do that?" Sasuke frowned at his brother. "You always beckon me over and jab me in the forehead. Then you say, 'Sorry Sasuke,' blah blah blah!"

Itachi put a hand on the top of Sasuke's head and messed his hair up. Sasuke swatted Itachi's hand away and backed up.

"I bet I know what it is." Sasuke growled. "I'll bet it's that stupid girlfriend of yours!"

Itachi twitched slightly.

"Get over it. It's been five years." Sasuke walked out of the garage, leaving Itachi in a stunned silence.

Itachi chuckled to himself and began to strum his guitar again. "Foolish little brother..." Itachi murmured, a single tear falling down his cheek.

* * *

Sasuke flopped down on the living room couch. Everyone was playing Rock Band.

"Did Itachi tell you what was wrong?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shook his head. He wondered if what he had said to Itachi was a little harsh.

"You know something, don't you?" Shikamaru asked Sasuke when the song on Rock Band ended.

Sasuke shrugged. "It's just an assumption. I don't even know if it's true."

"An assumption is better than nothing." Naruto muttered, sitting in a chair.

Sasuke shook his head. "It's not in my place to tell you. If Itachi doesn't want to talk, then don't make him talk."

The garage door slammed shut, making the entire room jump.

"All right, when?" the group heard Itachi's voice say. It didn't take a genius to know he was on the phone.

"Hang on," Itachi appeared at the entrance to the living room. "We're getting interviewed on _The Ino Show_ tomorrow unless there are objections."

The band shook their heads.

"None," Naruto said simply.

"All right, we'll be there." Itachi said into the phone. "Bye." Itachi snapped his phone shut and stuck it in his pocket.

"What time tomorrow?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well, the show airs at twelve, but we have to be there before ten apparently." Itachi shrugged.

"Wait, is this going to be live?" Naruto asked.

Itachi smirked. "Yes."

Itachi began noticing everyone watching him carefully. Itachi frowned slightly. "Guys, I'm not about to drop dead."

The group continued to watch Itachi.

"Why are you depressed?" Sakura asked suddenly, earning herself a hard glare from Sasuke.

Itachi smirked. "I'm not depressed."

"Something was bothering you this morning." Neji said. "We just want to know what it is."

"Don't worry about it." Itachi told them.

"You're our friend Itachi." Shikamaru pointed out. "Obviously we'd be worried about you. We're going to be worried about you no matter how many times you say it."

Itachi smiled softly. "I know." He sat down in a chair. "Which is why I keep saying it. But really, if I'm not worried about it, you shouldn't be."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "If you weren't worried about it, then we wouldn't have spotted the change in your personality."

"I'm over it now, aren't I?" Itachi replied, raising an eyebrow.

Shikamaru sighed. He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary with Itachi right now.

Neji snorted. "Whatever it is that's bothering you, you're far from being over it." Neji stared right into Itachi's eyes.

"I guess I should have expected that." Itachi said with a smirk. "You can read people better than anyone."

Neji pointed to his eyes. "You can hide something behind a smile, but your eyes always give it away."

"Itachi," Sasuke looked at his brother. "You don't have to tell us. And what I said was a little harsh. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Itachi murmured.

"If I got it right, just nod your head. I won't break it to anyone." Sasuke told him.

The group looked at Sasuke in outrage.

Itachi smiled softly and nodded once.

Sasuke nodded. He understood perfectly. Of course Itachi was going to be hurting from that even years later. As much as Sasuke hated her, Itachi would always love that girl.

"It's nothing to worry about." Sasuke told the group, turning back to the Rock Band game, and picking up one of the guitars.

The group continued to look at Sasuke in outrage.

"Sasuke!" Shikamaru cried.

"What? I haven't done anything wrong."

"Just leave it." Neji sighed.

The instruments were handed out again, and the group continued with their game of Rock Band.

**A/N: You see a story here don't you? Heh. There is one. Only one of my readers knows it. I believe I mentioned it once. Don't spoil it, SparkDazzleDuez! :) The story will be told in a few more chapters. Bet you can't wait XD.**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	17. Chapter 17: Interview

**A/N: As I wrote the last chapter, and currently this one, I've been listening to a composition called "The Planets" by Gustav Holst. It's really amazing. It has seven movements, starting with Mars (which is totally epic) then Venus (which is totally make you cry music) then Mercury (makes you want to get up and dance to it) then Jupiter (which is just plain amazing) then Saturn (which probably would make you fall asleep) then Uranus (totally loud and powerful, it wakes you up after Saturn's movement XD) finally, Neptune (which is so mysterious, and yet beautiful at the same time.) Earth was left out for obvious reasons, in the original composition as well as Pluto because it wasn't discovered at the time. Anyway, onto the next chapter!**

Chapter 17: Interview

Sakura, Hinata, Tenten and Temari all crammed onto the couch in Tenten's basement, a bowl of popcorn in their laps. They had their channel on KM TV, and they were just waiting for _The Ino Show_ to come on. Tenten hit the record button on the remote. She was taping it.

* * *

Hours before that, The Fifth Element was en route to KM Studios.

"So, what do you think we're going to be asked?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Everything," Sasuke said simply.

"How much is everything?"

"Everything," Sasuke said again, this time letting a little bit of evil meet his voice.

"Seriously Sasuke, how much-"

"EVERYTHING!" The entire car roared, making Naruto duck, and making Neji swerve slightly.

"DAMNIT, KEEP IT DOWN!" Neji cried. "I'm trying to drive."

"Try harder." Sasuke snorted.

"Naruto, hit him." Neji ordered.

Naruto did.

"OW!" Sasuke cried.

When the group finally reached KM Studios, they were immediately lead into the dressing room.

Neji ducked the powder brush. "Hell no, you're not putting that on me!"

The group laughed.

"The camera brings out a lot of imperfections." The makeup artist said.

"Yeah, Neji." Itachi taunted from the wall.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one in the chair." Neji growled.

"No, but I will be." Itachi laughed. Then he twitched slightly. It still hurt him to laugh.

Neji ducked the brush yet again.

The makeup artist sighed. "I mean it!" She warned.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Neji muttered. "I don't even get pimples."

"You're lucky!" Naruto muttered.

The makeup artist kicked Neji out of the chair. "I'll deal with you later."

"Joy..." Neji sighed and sat down against the wall to watch his friends get powdered, and prettied up. Shikamaru was first. The makeup artist pulled out his hair tie, and began to fix up his hair.

"Did you really have to do that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Wow, Shika," Naruto chuckled. "You should wear your hair down more often.

"Neji, hit him." Shikamaru ordered.

Neji conked him on the head.

"OW!" Naruto cried.

The makeup artist pulled out the powder brush again. The group watched as Shikamaru sat in a perpetual cringe the whole time, finishing with a pitiful cough after he had been powdered.

Sasuke was the next victim. The makeup artist tried desperately to put some order into Sasuke's untameable hair, but she failed miserably. Sasuke smiled with satisfaction when she put the brush down. But in came the powder brush, and Sasuke just took it. He stood up from the chair and sneezed, causing the makeup artist to sigh. Sasuke was set back down and re-powdered.

Itachi didn't even flinch, even though his eyes clearly said, _get me the hell out of this chair_. Itachi sat there and waited for the makeup artist to comb all the knots out of his hair. The makeup artist then tied his hair back up the same way he had it tied before. The only difference was that there were no more loose hairs. Itachi then got his face powdered. He got out of the chair, a look of relief washing over his face.

Naruto got in the chair next. The makeup artist combed out his wild hair, then grabbed a bottle of hair jell, rubbed it in, and messed Naruto's hair up with her hand. His hair was now officially spiky, same as always, but emphasised. The powder brush arrived and Naruto took it with a stupid grin on his face.

"It smells funny." Naruto laughed.

Neji rolled his eyes. Only Naruto would think that. Now it was apparently his turn. The makeup artist pulled out a length of rope, seemingly from her back pocket.

"WHAT THE-" Neji cried upon seeing it.

Itachi burst out laughing. "OW, OW, OW!" He cried.

"Okay okay!" Neji raised his hands in surrender. "Don't tie me up."

The makeup artist smiled in satisfaction as Neji sat down in the chair with his own free will.

"Are you sure you don't want to tie him up?" Itachi asked coolly.

"You try, and I will run." Neji muttered.

The makeup artist shrugged and pulled the tie from Neji's hair and began to brush it out. Neji did his best to wait patiently even though the lighting of the room was giving him a headache. Neji glanced at his watch. It was eleven thirty. The makeup artist finally stopped brushing Neji's hair and tied it back up. The makeup artist grabbed her powder brush and reached for the piece of cloth that Neji kept around his forehead at all times. He quickly slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Work around it." He ordered. His gaze was so severe that the makeup artist didn't question him. Neji finally got up from the chair.

"What?" He asked his band who hadn't taken their eyes off him since he sat in the chair. "Does my face glow or something?"

The band laughed.

"Yes!" Itachi said brightly. "But so does mine!"

"Don't hit him." The makeup artist told them. "Or you'll wreck your look."

Neji rolled his eyes and punched Itachi in the arm.

"OW!" Itachi cried.

The Fifth Element stood in the wings waiting for Ino to summon them. Ino was a blond woman, probably a few years older than Itachi. Her eyes were bright blue, and she wore mostly purple. She was wearing a lilac top with dark purple Capri's.

"Think if I asked, she'd date me?" Naruto joked.

"Dude," Itachi looked at him. "Don't even joke about it. I may hold it to you and tell her that."

Neji tried not to laugh. "You'd do it too."

"He would." Shikamaru snorted.

"SILENCE!" The director called. "We're on in five, four, three..." The director counted down the last few numbers silently with his fingers. He pointed at Ino and Ino began to speak.

"Welcome back to _The Ino Show!_" She said cheerfully. "Today is a special day. We've got a talented band in for an interview. They won Konoha Music Studio's Rising Stars competition. Please welcome, The Fifth Element!"

The group of boys kind of...stood there. They didn't know anything about television, so they had absolutely no idea that was their cue.

"Um, hello?" Ino began to laugh.

"Oops." Neji began to laugh. "I think that was our cue."

"Nice job Neji." Shikamaru shoved Neji onto the stage and walked out himself. The rest of the group followed.

"What happened there?" Ino laughed as the band sat down.

Neji was still sniggering.

"We didn't know that was our cue." Sasuke said honestly, still laughing.

The crowd roared with laughter.

"Oh my goodness." Ino sighed, though she was laughing.

"That was an epic fail on our part." Itachi muttered, shaking with laughter.

The group was silently holding in their laughter.

Then Shikamaru lost his mind and keeled over laughing. Neji lost it next. Naruto and Sasuke followed quickly after. Itachi couldn't hold his laughter in even if he tried.

A few moments later, the laughter ceased.

"Are you guys done laughing?" Ino asked.

The group was now worried about Itachi who was probably in pain at the moment. Itachi gave the group the thumbs up and rested his head on the back of the couch.

"Are you all right?" Ino's brow creased.

Itachi nodded.

"All right, first why don't you tell me your names, and what you play." Ino told them. "I'm Ino of course. I was partial to the clarinet back in high school."

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke shook Ino's hand. "Bass."

"Naruto Uzumaki, and I play drums!" Naruto said enthusiastically and shook Ino's hand as well.

"Shikamaru Nara, guitar." Shikamaru nodded and shook Ino's hand.

"Neji Hyuuga." Neji, you guessed it, shook Ino's hand. "Vocals."

"And you there?" Ino looked at Itachi.

"Itachi Uchiha." Itachi saluted Ino because he didn't want to sit up yet. "I play guitar. The other guitar."

"I hear you guys come from Konoha." Ino said sitting down.

"Yes," the group replied at different times.

"You and Sasuke are related, Itachi?"

"He's my foolish little brother." Itachi said with a smirk as he finally lifted his head.

"Not nice, Nii-san." Sasuke muttered.

The group chuckled.

"So, tell me..." Ino clasped her hands together. "What inspired you to become a band?"

The group looked at each other and sniggered.

"You start, Neji." Naruto chuckled.

"It all started one day after school." Neji began. "The school talent show was approaching, and Naruto asked if we were going to see it."

"Talent shows are such a drag unless you're in them, I told Naruto." Shikamaru added.

"That's when I suggested to form a band so we could just plain enter the talent show." Neji laughed. "To be honest, we only did it to get a laugh."

"Sasuke came running into the house screaming at the top of his lungs saying he was forming a band with his friends and he wanted me to help." Itachi said with a smirk.

"It was a joke." Naruto shrugged.

Ino raised her eyebrows. "A joke?"

"Yeah." Neji laughed. "We formed the band so we could fail at it and get a laugh for it."

"Not only that, but we were bored half to death." Sasuke added. "So forming a band made us less bored."

"Why did you continue then?" Ino asked.

"Because we had so much fun!" Naruto cried.

"We didn't want to cut the band." Sasuke added.

"So they all moved into my house, and took over." Itachi said.

"We didn't take over!" Naruto protested.

"I was kidding." Itachi said to Naruto.

"You guys sure kid a lot." Ino interpreted.

"You think this is bad," Shikamaru began. "You should see us at home. We're constantly pulling pranks on each other."

Neji snorted. "Bathtub rat."

"That wasn't funny!" Itachi growled.

Neji laughed.

"I'd love to hear the end of this one." Ino said eagerly.

"Why don't I just show you? Do you have a computer? It's on YouTube."

"You TAPED it?" Itachi cried.

Neji chuckled. "Busted."

Ino hit a button on the table and the screen that was behind them lit up.

"Nice. How do I work it?" Neji asked.

Ino handed him a wireless keyboard. Neji took it and began to type in the website box.

"So...you guys have a YouTube channel?"

"Yes." Naruto said. "We prank each other so often that we started filming it and putting it on YouTube to show how we did it so other people could do it too."

"Username: Pranksters5." Shikamaru said with a laugh as Neji selected the video labelled 'Bathtub Rat: Neji vs. Itachi'

The video immediately appeared on the screen. Neji hit full screen, and watched the video.

Neji appeared on screen, as he set the video camera in the inconspicuous place behind the showerhead.

"_Bathtub Rat," Neji held up the rat. "Tie fishing line to the front of it," Neji tied it around the whiskers. "Like so." Neji held it up by the fishing line to show it hanging firmly from the fishing line. "Then, take a piece of tape," Neji held up a roll of duct tape. "It doesn't have to be duct tape. It can be electrical tape or masking tape. Whatever you have. Just make sure it's good strong tape. Then take a piece," Neji bit off a strip of duct tape. And stick it to the fishing line." Neji stuck it to the fishing line. "Like so. Finally, tape it to the bottom of the shower curtain," Neji taped it to the shower curtain. Neji grabbed the curtain and pulled it open, watching the rat slide across the porcelain in full view. Neji shot the camera a thumbs up, closed the curtain again, reset the rat, and slid out of view in the opposite end of the shower._

The room watched the video as subtitles began to appear on the screen, showing what everyone was saying in the background.

"_Neji! Hurry up in there!" Itachi's voice cried along with pounding on the door. The sound of the door opening came from the speakers._

"_Sorry, your prince, it's all yours." Neji's voice replied._

"_Very funny." Itachi growled in reply._

_The door closed again. A few seconds later, Itachi pulled the shower curtain, shirtless._

_Itachi screamed. "HOLY S*Beeeeep*"_

The crowd laughed upon seeing Itachi's scramble backwards.

The video of Itachi replayed again, this time in slow motion, so you could see every detail of his face.

The crowd laughed harder.

"Can you show us more of those?" Ino laughed.

Sasuke took the keyboard. "I'll show my favourite." Sasuke selected the 'Rigged Faucet: Neji vs. Itachi'

"_Rigged faucet." Neji held up a roll of black electrical tape. "This prank only works if you have a spray nozzle." Neji lifted the spray nozzle up so the camera could see. "Then you've got to tape it open. Tape down the button, nice and tight. It's best if you use tape that's the same colour as the nozzle." Neji pointed the nozzle at the sink and turned on the water. The nozzle sprayed. "Perfect." Neji replaced the nozzle. "Then aim it where you're victim is going to be standing. I don't know who I'm going to get. I'm home alone at the moment." Neji chuckled, placed the camera in a fruit bowl, and covered it up. He shot a thumbs up at the camera before leaving. "Don't forget. Act natural."_

_The camera skipped a bit. "Neji, why are you home so early?" Itachi's voice said in the background after a door slammed._

"_Don't ask." Neji replied bitterly._

_Itachi appeared in the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and held it under the faucet, and turned the water on._

_Itachi screamed like a girl, dropped the glass into the sink and slammed his hand on the water. Neji's laughter was heard in the background._

"_NEJI!" Itachi roared. "You're dead!"_

The video replayed Itachi's reaction in slow motion. Itachi grabbed the keyboard and showed his video. It was labelled 'Newspaper Door: Itachi vs. Neji.'

_Itachi appeared on the screen. "I'm going to get Neji back for that faucet incident, so I'm going to cover his door with newspaper. It may seem lame, but it's a prank that takes place over three days. Day one and two you just put newspaper over the door. Then on day three when your victim is going to be really frustrated, pile cans outside the door, so when they go through it'll scare the hell out of them." Itachi hid the camera on a bookshelf across from Neji's bedroom and proceeded to tape the newspaper over the door._

_The camera skipped and the newspaper lit up, Neji silhouetted nicely on the newspaper. Neji's fist appeared through the newspaper and he tore through it, a look of annoyance on his face._

"_I don't know who did it, but whoever did is terrible at pranking! It's supposed to be plastic wrap!" Neji yelled. Then he started down the stairs. The camera skipped again, and Itachi put more newspaper on Neji's door. The camera skipped again, showing Neji's silhouette again. This time Neji went right through the paper, pure annoyance on his face. "Idiots." He muttered, starting down the stairs._

_The camera skipped again. "Final day!" Itachi said eagerly he ran up to Neji's door and taped the newspaper on again. Then he built a lovely pyramid of pop cans outside Neji's door._

"_I put five pennies in each of them to make a louder noise!" Itachi laughed. The camera skipped for the final time._

"_AW COME ON!" Neji's voice cried. He tore through the newspaper and knocked down the pile of cans. "HOLY S*beep* *beep* *beep*" Neji stumbled through the noisy cans cursing the whole time._

_Itachi appeared from his bedroom laughing his head off._

"_I'm going to murder you." Neji growled. "No blueberry pancakes because of you!"_

"_No!" Itachi whined._

The camera replayed Neji's reaction in slow motion.

The crowd loved this one.

Naruto snatched up the keyboard and selected his favourite. 'Sleeping Train: Everyone vs. Sasuke (Naruto's Idea)'

_The group barged into Sasuke's room silently, sniggering to themselves._

"_First," Naruto began. "Make sure your victim is sleeping. You'll need a flashlight. Naruto held up his flashlight. "The brighter the better! Preferably LED. Then you go over to your victim and shine the flashlight in their face. If they don't wake up after a minute, poke them a few times, until they begin to wake up. When they wake up, scream 'Train' as loud as you can, and watch the effect."_

_Naruto crouched by Sasuke's bed, the group looking on. Naruto shined the flashlight in Sasuke's face. Sasuke's eyelids moved slightly, but other than that he didn't react, and went right back to sleep. Itachi held up his iPod in front of the camera. 'Train whistle' it said. Itachi hit play, and a train whistle sounded._

_Shikamaru began making chugging sounds. Naruto poked Sasuke a couple times. Sasuke's eyes opened slightly.  
"TRAIN!" Naruto screamed._

_Sasuke screamed and jumped up from the bed into a sitting position. The look of fear disappeared when he realized he had been pranked. "You bastards." Sasuke muttered._

_The group laughed at him._

Shikamaru took the keyboard and clicked his favourite. 'Freezer Door in the Face: Shikamaru vs. Naruto'

"_This one's a piece of cake. Especially if you know what makes your friend mad. I'm going to take that freezer door and open it in Naruto's face." Shikamaru placed the camera down. He disappeared with a package of instant ramen. He cooked it and began to eat it. He walked into the living room._

_Naruto suddenly appeared in the kitchen and opened the cupboard. "Shikamaru! You took the last ramen!" He cried._

_Shikamaru appeared in the kitchen again, and brought another mouthful of noodles to his mouth, as if to taunt him. He even slurped it._

"_That's not funny." Naruto growled._

_Shikamaru smirked and slurped the noodles again. "Want them?" Naruto snatched the cup from Shikamaru's hand. Shikamaru tossed the chopsticks into the sink, and started to stretch his legs._

"_You ate them all!" Naruto cried tossing the cup into the sink._

"_I know," Shikamaru smirked._

_Naruto jumped at Shikamaru. Shikamaru ran away. Naruto followed him. Shikamaru suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway running towards the camera. Naruto followed close behind him. Shikamaru quickly grabbed the freezer door, and swung it open. There was a loud smack as Naruto ran straight into it._

"_OW!" Naruto got up. "What the hell?"_

"_You just got pranked Naruto." Shikamaru laughed and pointed at the camera._

"_You still took the last ramen!" Naruto cried._

_Shikamaru shook his head and opened the freezer again to show where he hid all the ramen._

_Naruto sighed with relief._

_Shikamaru flipped the camera off._

Shikamaru placed the keyboard back on the table.

"Nice." Ino laughed. "So, other than pulling pranks and writing songs, what else do you do for fun?"

The group snickered.

"We party!" Itachi cried putting a hand in the air.

"How do you party?" Ino asked with a grin.

"We hook Itachi's iPod up to the speakers and we blast music and we boogie." Neji said simply.

"We also play video games." Shikamaru added.

"What video games?"

"Ironically," Sasuke began. "We play Rock Band."

The crowd chuckled.

Ino raised her eyebrow. "Okay?"

"Hey, it's fun!" Naruto protested. "Besides we learned off Rock Band."

Ino gave an uneasy laugh. "Okay?"

"Yeah I know." Neji told her. "It makes no sense."

Ino laughed again. "So what else do you guys do? Not when you're together, but what do you do individually?"

"You've got it easy Neji." Shikamaru muttered.

"Huh?" Neji looked at Shikamaru with a confused expression.

"We've seen you paint your room." Shikamaru said easily.

Neji laughed.

"You paint your room?" Ino raised her eyebrow.

"Not exactly. I just paint on my wall." Neji replied.

"What colour is your wall?" Ino asked.

"It used to be completely white." Neji explained.

"I threw a pen at his wall and it exploded all over the perfect whiteness." Itachi explained.

The crowd laughed.

"Yes, that's exactly what happened." Neji muttered bitterly. "I didn't have any white paint to cover it up, but I did have a collection of various acrylic paints hidden away under my bed, so I pulled them out and painted a picture over the ink splatter. Then I realized that it was fun painting on a wall, because I hadn't had anything to paint on for years, so I just violated the number one rule I grew up with: Never draw on the walls."

The crowd laughed.

"I still do it too." Neji chuckled.

"What do you do if you don't like the picture?" Ino asked.

"Well, I did go out to the local hardware store awhile ago and bought white paint, so all I have to do is roll white paint over it a few times, and it's gone. Then I can paint over it again."

"What pictures do you paint?"

Naruto snorted. "Birds."

"Birds? Really?" Ino said with awe. "Are they any good?"

"Neji's wall painting is amazing." Itachi laughed. "You could swear they're really there."

"Do you draw too?" Ino asked.

"Sometimes." Neji replied. "My drawings stink."

"They're better than what we could've done." Sasuke told him.

Neji rolled his eyes.

"So what about the rest of you?" Ino asked them.

"Shikamaru solves un-solvable logic." Neji told her.

Shikamaru laughed.

"He's genius, and he taunts us with that fact." Naruto laughed.

"If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Ino asked Shikamaru.

"Well, that honestly depends. Is there air in the forest? If there's no medium, sound can't travel. But if there is a forest, there should be air anyway, so a sound was produced. But what if the tree gets caught on another tree and doesn't actually hit the ground? Well, the question states that the tree fell, so obviously it did make a sound." Shikamaru stated.

The crowd was dead silent.

"Which came first? The chicken or the egg?" Ino asked.

"That depends on your belief. Personally, I take the side of the chicken." Shikamaru leaned back and put his hands behind his head.

"You arrive at a wide river with a tiger, a goat and a head of lettuce. The only way across is a raft. The boat can only fit two, you and an animal or the lettuce. The tiger and the goat can't be left alone together, and the goat can't be left alone with the lettuce. How do you get them across safely?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru put his fingertips together and closed his eyes. Five seconds later, he opened his eyes.

"First, take the goat across the river. Then go back and take the tiger across. Before you go back for the lettuce, put the goat back in the boat and row it back to where it started. Put the lettuce in the boat and take it across, then return for the goat." Shikamaru smiled at the looks of awe on everyone's faces.

"What did I tell you?" Neji said to the awestruck faces.

"Personally, I'm scared now...What's your IQ?" Ino asked.

"I've never taken an IQ test to tell you the truth." Shikamaru laughed.

Ino typed on her keyboard. "Do it." She handed Shikamaru the keyboard. Shikamaru clicked a few links, and he started the test.

The group watched as he closed his eyes from time to time, and quickly got through the questions. His score popped up and everyone was awestruck.

"Holy hell man!" Itachi cried. "200?"

"You ARE a genius!" Neji cried. "I only ever got 150!"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Who else has a talent that I don't know about?" Ino asked.

"I can scream really loud!" Naruto said jumping up.

"Yes...Yes you can..." Sasuke said, leaning away from Naruto.

"Can you make that useful for me?" Ino asked.

"Sure!"

"Scream for my agent. His name is Keiji. Tell him I need some water." Ino said with a smirk.

Naruto took a deep breath, causing Neji, Itachi, Sasuke and Shikamaru to jump off the couch and move away from Naruto.

"HEY KEIJI! INO WANTS WATER!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs. Neji could swear they heard that half way to Antarctica.

A few moments later, a man bustled in with a bottle of water and handed it to Ino.

"Thank you." Ino said politely. The man bowed quickly and ran back to wherever he came from.

"Thank you Naruto!" Ino said after taking a long drink.

Naruto grinned.

"What about the Uchihas? What talents do you have?" Ino asked, setting the water bottle down.

"I can break dance." Sasuke said smirking. "He does the Moonwalk." Sasuke gestured to Itachi.

"Wow! Can I see that?"

Itachi stood up first and did the Moonwalk across the stage, spun the other way and did it back.

The crowd cheered.

"I can't get over how creepy that looks." Ino said laughing.

Sasuke stood up, walked to one end of the stage, and shook out his limbs. Then he ran for the middle of the stage, slid on his knees, turned sideways and pulled a break dance that earned many cheers. Neji smiled as he imagined the looks of horror on the makeup artists face upon seeing the dust on Sasuke's clothes when he got up again.

"Think you could do that again? The janitors would be happy." Ino joked.

Sasuke looked down at his black shirt now coated in dust. He quickly brushed the worst of it off before sitting back on the couch.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are your goals for the future? Other than music I mean." Ino asked.

Neji snorted. "Go skydiving."

The band looked at Neji with surprise.

"This coming from the guy who almost passed out after riding Drop Zone?" Itachi cried. "Who are you and what have to done with Neji Hyuuga?"

Neji smirked. "My name is Hokey Pokey. I killed him."

"There he is!" Shikamaru laughed.

The band laughed.

"You always know its Neji when he uses lame sarcasm." Shikamaru explained.

Ino nodded. "So what about the rest of you? Any goals you want to meet?"

"Of course, Shika wants a PhD." Itachi joked.

Shikamaru snorted. "In what?"

"Neurosurgery." Neji replied.

The band laughed.

"Neurology maybe. Then I could know what's wrong with you guys." Shikamaru laughed, shaking his head.

"What do you really want to do?" Ino asked.

"I want to get better than Itachi at guitar." Shikamaru said bluntly.

"Impossible." Itachi declared.

"HEY! Some of the greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible!" Shikamaru quoted Doug Larson.

"Yeah, and you have an IQ of 200?" Itachi snorted.

"Oh shut it." Shikamaru turned away from Itachi, looking very angry.

"What about you Itachi? Do you have a goal?" Ino asked.

Itachi thought about it. "I've never actually thought about it really..." Itachi continued to think. "I think...I just want to have fun with my life."

"Reasonable!" Ino complemented. "How about Naruto?"

Naruto grinned. "I'm going to go scuba diving some day!"

"I've done it. It's a lot of fun. Work towards that!" Ino turned to Sasuke. "What about you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke thought for a moment. "I'm going to walk across a bed of coals."

"That sounds dangerous." Ino commented.

"Not for Pyro Sasuke." Naruto laughed.

"If I'm Pyro Sasuke, then you're Hydro Naruto, because you love to swim so much!" Sasuke commented.

Naruto grinned.

"Now The Fifth Element is giving each other nicknames based on the Elements!" Ino laughed.

"That's not a bad idea!" Sasuke laughed.

"Sasuke's fire, Naruto's water..." Itachi murmured. "Neji, you have to be wind because you love birds so much."

"Shut it!" Neji said with a smirk.

"Cloud Neji. How does that sound?" Itachi offered.

Neji snorted. "Oh yeah, people are going to start saying things like you're on Cloud Neji."

The band laughed.

"Okay! Sky Neji." Itachi laughed.

Neji rolled his eyes.

"Who's earth?" Sasuke asked with a laugh.

"Well, none of us are really down to earth...Except maybe Neji..." Itachi commented.

"Maybe we should make Shikamaru wind! He's always watching the clouds remember?" Naruto offered.

Neji snorted. "And that makes him worthy of being the mighty unstoppable wind?"

"Touché..." Naruto murmured. "He's too lazy to be unstoppable. Because he'd just stop on the nearest hill and fall asleep."

"Okay so Shikamaru is earth." Neji thought for a moment. "But there has to be a fifth element out there..."

"How about Spirit?" Shikamaru suggested.

"I like it." Itachi said with a smirk.

Ino looked at her watch. "We're just about out of time now. Shame, I was just beginning to have fun. So, before you go, I was wondering if you'd play us one of your songs."

The band grinned.

"Sure!" Naruto replied.

A curtain rose on the side of the stage, revealing several guitars, a bass, a drum set and a microphone.

The band immediately took their places. Itachi, Sasuke and Shikamaru tuned their instruments, and gave the thumbs up after playing several major scales.

"Which one are we playing?" Shikamaru asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Itachi said with a grin. "The same one we played at the contest!"

"Gotcha!" Naruto cried. He clapped his drumsticks together. The guitar tore the air, and the drums added to the chaos. Neji had long since ditched the mic stand. The lighting operator was shooting lasers around the group. While he sang, Neji made a joke out of the lasers and began dodging them whenever he got the chance. Eventually he quit and just went with the music. When the song ended, the crowd erupted into cheers.

"Now can we sing _Hey Jude?_" Itachi asked with a grin.

"Why would you want to sing _Hey Jude?_" Shikamaru asked.

Itachi shrugged. "The Beatles are awesome! I like the 'na na na naaaa.'"

"You would." Neji laughed.

"We'll finish with a dance off!" Itachi plugged his iPod into the amp.

"You brought that thing?" Neji cried.

"I never let it out of my sight!" Itachi laughed as The Beatles began to play.

The group as well as the crowd swayed with the music.

_Hey Jude,_

_Don't make it bad_

_Take a sad song, and make it better_

_Remember to let her into your heart_

_Then you can start to make it better_

_Hey Jude,_

_Don't be afraid_

_You were made to go out and get her_

_The minute you let her under your skin,_

_Then you begin to make it better._

_And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain_

_Don't carry the world upon your shoulders._

_For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool_

_By making his world a little colder_

_Hey Jude,_

_Don't let me down_

_You have found her, now go and get her_

_Remember to let her into your heart_

_Then you can start to make it better_

_So let it out and let it in, Hey Jude begin_

_You're waiting for someone to perform with_

_And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude you'll do_

_The movement you need is on your shoulder_

_Hey Jude don't make it bad,_

_Take a sad song, and make it better_

_Remember to let her under your skin_

_Then you'll begin to make it_

_Better better better better better..._

The crowd began to cheer as the _Naaaaa naaa naaa, na na na naaaa _began to play. The band started to run up and down the aisles high fiving everyone they came across. The crowd clapped in time with the music and danced themselves.

* * *

At Tenten's house, the girls watched the boys run through the aisles while the camera scrolled away from the stage, the credits playing.

**A/N: Wew! Long chapter! It's just about 500 words less than the Wonderland chapter, but hey (jude) it's still long XD. I didn't notice how cheesy Hey Jude was until I wrote out the lyrics XD. Go listen to the na na na naaa part of Hey Jude and tell me you can't see The Fifth Element running through the aisles. Because I so can XD. It's hilarious.**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	18. Chapter 18: Friendship

**A/N: Remember in the last chapter Shikamaru took an IQ test? Just before I wrote that part, I took an IQ test myself. I scored 119. I'm not a genius, but I get by... With straight A's... Neji's IQ score...well I just made that up. ENJOY!**

Chapter 18: Friendship

Naruto spun in Tentens spinning chair in the basement of her house. Everyone was sitting somewhere in the basement. They were totally bored to death. Nobody felt like playing video games.

"Why don't we interrogate each other or something?" Temari suggested.

"How?" Itachi asked.

"Why don't we play Truth or Dare?" Temari said with a shrug.

"Friendly Truth or Dare," Sasuke told her. "We aren't dared to do anything cruel, and we aren't asked to tell something that we wouldn't normally say in public."

"I'm game." Temari said.

The group of bored teens nodded.

"It's better than nothing..." Neji sighed. He had been lying on his back on the floor for the last half hour.

Tenten had stuck everyone's name into a hat. "I'll draw a name, that person goes first. Then they draw from the hat to decide who they're asking. The person who was asked a question last is the one who draws next. The names get put back in after you draw them, so the game can go on for ages." Tenten drew a name. "Neji, you're first." Tenten put Neji's name back in the hat as he got up off the floor with a sigh and walked over to the hat. He drew a name.

"Sakura, Truth or Dare?" He asked.

Sakura fidgeted for a few seconds. "Dare..." She said faintly.

"Stand on your head for five minutes." Neji said simply sitting down again.

"That's it?" Sakura asked, quite surprised.

"It's a friendly game, remember? That dare is friendly. I just want to see you stand on your head for five minutes to see if your face turns as pink as your hair."

Sakura giggled. "I can't do a hand stand."

"Do it against a wall."

Sakura walked over to a wall, put her hands on the ground, and pushed her legs above her head leaning against the wall.

Itachi set the timer on his iPod. The group watched as Sakura slowly turned pink. She suddenly began to giggle.

"Blood rush is making her loopy." Sasuke laughed.

"That's five minutes." Itachi said, putting his iPod back in his pocket.

"Don't just suddenly flip over!" Neji warned.

But it was too late. Sakura stood up and instantly fell over. Neji grabbed her before she hit the deck, and sat her on the floor.

"I didn't expect that..." Sakura sighed. "My vision went all dark and sparkly...and I got dizzy..."

"The same thing happens when you've been lying down for a long time and you get up too fast." Shikamaru said with a shrug. "It happens to me all the time."

Sakura came to, and sat back down on the couch beside Tenten. Tenten offered her the hat. Sakura took a name out of it.

"Itachi, Truth or Dare?" She asked.

"Truth." Itachi said with a smirk.

"What shampoo do you use?"

Itachi chuckled. "Whatever's there."

"Nice question, Sakura." Sasuke commented.

Itachi took the hat and drew a name.

"Neji, Truth or Dare."

"Dare." Neji muttered.

"Take your headband off for a day."

"Not happening. Try again." Neji said stiffly.

"It's just a headband!" Itachi told him.

"Leave it be..." Hinata said timidly. Neji looked at Hinata. She wasn't looking at him, but he had heard the guilty tone in her voice.

Itachi sighed. "Okay fine." Itachi thought for a moment. "Braid your hair, and leave it in for the rest of the game."

The group laughed. Even Neji was laughing.

"I don't know how." Neji said shaking his head.

"Get one of the girls to do it for you." Itachi ordered.

Tenten stood up. "I'll do it."

Neji had his arms crossed the whole time, but he put up with Tenten's ten-second braid.

"There." Tenten sat back down.

"Nice." Itachi laughed. He held the hat out for Neji. Neji walked over to the hat, conked Itachi once in the head and drew a name.

"Naruto, Truth or Dare."

"Dare." Naruto grinned.

"Go without ramen for the rest of the day."

Naruto's jaw dropped.

"Couldn't come up with a better one." Neji said innocently.

"All right..." Naruto sighed.

Neji gave Naruto the hat. Naruto drew a name.

"Tenten, Truth or Dare."

"Dare, as it's the only fun one." Tenten replied.

"Put your hair down for the rest of the game."

The girls laughed.

"Poor Tennie-chan!" Temari laughed.

Tenten regretfully pulled the buns and bobby pins out of her hair. She tossed the ties and pins on the table.

"Give me that hat." Tenten muttered, ignoring the stares she got from the boys.

Naruto passed her the hat. Tenten drew a name.

"Hinata, Truth or Dare."

"Um..." Hinata tapped her index fingers together. "Truth?"

"What's your favourite place in the whole world?" Tenten asked.

Hinata blushed slightly. "Where all you guys are..."

"Aw," Temari said and hugged Hinata. "You're so sweet."

Hinata drew a name from the hat.

"S-Sasuke, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." Sasuke said simply.

"W-What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?"

"Some jerk pants me in the middle of the cafeteria in grade 9."

The group howled with laughter.

"I remember that!" Naruto laughed.

Sasuke took the hat and drew a name.

"Itachi, Truth or Dare."

Itachi buzzed his lips. He thought for a moment. "Dare."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Quote your favourite movie line."

Itachi smirked and stood up. He grabbed a jar off the shelf, held it above his head, and began a quote from Pirates of the Caribbean.

"_Oi! Fish face! Lose something? Oi! Schunjili! Whoa..._" Itachi fell over and rolled behind the couch. "_Got it!_" Itachi cried with the perfect Jack Sparrow accent as he held the jar over the back of the couch. "_Come to negotiate, eh? You slimy git. Look what I got._" Itachi began to sing with the 'nana nana boo boo' melody. "_I got a jar of dirt, I got a jar of dirt, I got a jar of dirt, and guess what's inside it!_" The group laughed as Itachi held the jar above his head. Then they cheered as Itachi sat back down again, replacing the jar on the shelf. Itachi grabbed a name from the hat.

"Temari, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"If you were able choose the way you die, other than dying in your sleep, what would you pick?"

Temari's eye twitched. "Not at all."

"You have to pick one. Don't worry nothing will happen."

Temari thought about the many ways to die. She shuddered suddenly. "I don't want to think about that. I'm too young to die."

Itachi nodded with understanding. "For the record, I'd pick freeze to death."

The group stared at Itachi.

"Why?" Neji asked. "Is hypothermia really the best way to die?"

"That's bizarre coming from you Itachi." Sasuke commented. "You almost died in a skiing accident six years ago."

Itachi sighed. "Yeah. As terrifying as that was, I found that freezing to death wasn't so bad... You actually feel warm after two hours...Then you fall asleep..." Itachi shrugged.

"You and NDE's." Shikamaru muttered.

"NDE?" Itachi raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru.

"Near Death Experience."

"Oh." Itachi frowned. "I thought a near death experience is when you see the light, and you have those bizarre out of body experiences and what not..."

"That's a nearer death experience." Shikamaru laughed.

The group laughed.

Temari drew a name from the hat.

"Tenten, Truth or Dare."

Tenten blew a lock of hair from her face. "Um...Truth."

"If Sakura, Hinata and I were trapped in a burning house, and you could only save one of us, which one would you save?"

Tenten looked at her friends with wide eyes. "I am so not answering that...I'd get a fireman to help me get all of you out."

Temari shrugged. "Fair enough."

Tenten put her hand in the hat. "Anyone getting bored yet?"

There were a few murmurs around the group.

"Just keep going." Naruto said with a shrug.

Tenten pulled a name out. "Neji, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

Tenten thought for a moment. "Is there somebody you'd just love to drop a piano on from the top of a ten story building?"

Neji scratched his chin thoughtfully, an evil smirk on his face. "Oh yeah...A few actually..."

The group laughed.

"I hope you don't mean your uncle, Neji..." Hinata said timidly.

Neji looked at Hinata with a straight face. "No he's on a different level."

"Oh hell...What would you do to him?" Itachi chuckled.

"The options are too vast for me to pick." Neji replied.

"Would you fill the piano with a bunch of knives first?" Itachi asked.

"Tempting." Neji muttered. His tone clearly stated that was all he wanted to say. Tenten offered him that hat. Neji took a name out.

"Hinata, Truth or Dare?"

"Um...Dare..." Hinata said nervously.

Neji thought for a moment. "Do that human ball thing."

Hinata laughed.

"Okay, this I have to see." Temari said leaning over the back of the couch. Hinata got down on her stomach, curled her legs over her back, grabbed her ankles, and started rolling across the floor.

The group howled with laughter.

"That's so cool, Hina-chan!" Naruto cried.

Hinata blushed red, hoping nobody noticed.

Neji smirked. He always noticed when Hinata blushed. He almost wished that Hinata's talent, when it came to how flexible she was, could be seen. Of course, Hiashi wouldn't have for it.

Hinata took a name from the hat. "N-Naruto, Truth or Dare."

"Dare!" Naruto said easily.

Hinata thought for a moment. Then she kept thinking. She couldn't think of a dare.

"I-I can't think of one..." Hinata murmured.

Itachi sighed and leaned back in the chair he was sitting on. "I guess that's game over then..."

"Sorry..." Hinata said honestly.

"Hey, do you guys want to watch your interview?" Tenten asked. "I taped it."

"You are a genius." Itachi said with a smirk. "Pop it in. Let's watch."

Tenten put the tape in, and they began watching The Fifth Element's interview.

They laughed at their hopelessness when they realized they missed their cue. They re-watched their pranks, and had a good time laughing at themselves.

Neji's phone suddenly went off in his pocket. He pulled it out and frowned at it.

"Hang on guys, I'll be right back." Neji said jogging up the stairs and flipping the phone open.

"Hello?" Neji asked, his heart pounding in his chest.

He listened to the angry voice on the other side of the phone. Neji's spirit got lower and lower with every second that went by. A tear slid down his cheek when he heard the words he never wanted to hear.

"I-I understand, Hiashi..."

**A/N: Uh oh...**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	19. Chapter 19: Storm

**A/N: ...if you want the honest truth, I feel like I have a lump in my throat...as in an I-think-I'm-going-to-cry... :S bizarre I know...Then again, I'll bet you had the same feeling after reading the final sentence in the last chapter XD. The ironic thing is...When I wrote that last sentence "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles started to play XD. Ah well...Let's just keep going.**

Chapter 19: Storm

Neji sat on Tenten's back porch. He didn't have the motivation to go back downstairs.

"Neji?" Tenten's voice said suddenly.

Neji looked at Tenten, then instantly regretted it. He turned away quickly hoping Tenten didn't sense his pain.

"Did something happen?" Tenten asked.

_She noticed._ Neji thought sadly. "No. It's fine."

Tenten sat down beside him. "You don't have to say anything. Just know that you can talk to me any time."

Neji nodded. He wasn't about to be going to Tenten with his problems. She wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway. Neji tugged the braid out of his hair from the game of Truth or Dare.

"Can you leave me alone for a bit, Tenten?" Neji asked her.

Tenten sighed. "Sure." Tenten stood up and walked back into the house. Neji watched her retreat down the hallway, grateful that she understood him better than anyone did.

Tenten walked into the basement.

"Where's Neji?" Hinata asked.

"Don't worry about it." Tenten told her.

Hinata nodded. The group proceeded to watch television. Itachi and Sasuke were laughing at the Mythbusters's latest explosion, when Neji called from the top of the stairs.

"I'm going out for a bit guys!" Neji called.

"Yup!" Itachi called to him.

Tenten heard Neji's footsteps, followed by the distinct sound of the front door closing. Tenten hoped he'd be alright.

Another half hour passed and the group was now duking it out in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

"FLY ANGEL FLY!" Itachi roared at Pit when he was launched off the cliff again. "YOU STUPID ANGEL! YOU CAN'T EVEN FLY!" Itachi cried when the sparkly explosion shot up from the bottom of the screen.

_Player three, Defeated._ The announcer said in the game.

"Well damn you!" Itachi told the announcer. Itachi then proceeded to watch Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke duel.

"Who's the pipsqueak?" Itachi asked watching Toon Link throw a boomerang at the sword wielding Ike.

"I'm the one with the big-ass sword!" Sasuke boasted happily, referring to Ike.

Shikamaru smiled as his character shot an RPG (1) at Ike and sent him flying.

"I love this guy!" Shikamaru cried.

"What the hell!" Sasuke cried watching Ike fly into the distant heavens screaming _OOHHHHHHhhhhh _(2)_ ping_.

"Well I still have one life." Sasuke muttered.

Itachi's phone suddenly went off in his pocket. He pulled it out and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

The group continued to pummel each other on Smash Bros.

"Hey, Neji. What's up?"

Itachi paused for a few moments, his eyes widening slightly, and his lips parting in surprise.

"What did you just say?" He said into the phone. The group was now looking at Itachi with a look of confusion on their faces, the game forgotten.

Itachi suddenly pulled the phone from his ear. "He hung up on me!" Itachi dialled Neji's number and got the answering machine.

_Hey, this is Neji. I can't answer the phone right now. Leave a message._

Itachi snapped the phone shut, and dialled again.

_Hey, this is_

"PICK UP NEJI!" Itachi screamed into the phone.

_...Leave a message. *beep*_

"Listen to me right now Neji! You pick up that bloody phone!" Itachi paused. "PICK UP THE PHONE! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" Itachi paused again. "NEJI!" Itachi paused for the final time, snapped his phone shut and threw it harshly on the table. Itachi put his head in his hands.

"What just happened?" Shikamaru asked.

Itachi shook his head. Then he lifted it. "I think Neji just quit the band."

Dead silence.

"N-No...H-He couldn't have..." Naruto said softly. "He just couldn't..."

Tenten turned and walked up the stairs. She stuffed on her shoes, and walked out the door to look for Neji.

* * *

Neji sat beneath the cherry blossom tree that was no longer in bloom. His phone kept ringing. He ignored it every time. He kept hearing his friends confused and angry voices coming through the answering machine.

Neji clamped a hand over his phone as it rang again. He flipped it over and yanked the battery out. He stuck it back in a moment later, and left his phone off. Neji heard the faint rumble of thunder off in the distance. He smiled to himself. Wouldn't it be just grand if the tree he was sitting under got struck by lightning? Neji pressed himself against the trunk.

_Let it. _Neji thought to himself. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the approaching rain. The wind was blowing the rain towards him. He got soaked quickly in the downpour.

"Neji?"

Neji turned his head and saw Tenten walking towards him, her jacket covering her head.

"I should have known you'd hunt me down." Neji told her, looking up at the dark sky. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled.

"It's dangerous to sit under a tree in a thunder storm." Tenten told him.

Neji rolled his eyes. "I could care less right now."

Tenten hesitated, and then sat down beside him under the tree. "What happened Neji?"

Neji didn't answer. The rain was running down his face like tears, though he wasn't crying.

"Neji..." Tenten said softly as a particularly loud crack of thunder shook the sky. "What happened? Itachi told me you quit the band..." Tenten grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Neji looked at her, surprised by the contact. Her brown eyes were pleading.

Neji turned his head away.

"You're not the Neji I know..." Tenten murmured. "The Neji I know would never quit the band! You love that band, Neji!" Tenten felt her eyes burning. "So, why Neji? Why did you quit?"

Neji made a sound Tenten had never heard out of him before. She realized a moment later that he was crying.

"It's not like I wanted to..." Neji said, his voice shaking slightly. The wind suddenly picked up, throwing tiny twigs, leaves and rain at the two teens.

"Neji, let's go find some shelter...its dangerous here..." Tenten told him. Neji rubbed his face with his wet sleeve.

"Fine..." He murmured softly.

Tenten helped him off the ground and the two wandered along the path back towards civilization. The two took shelter in one of those plastic domes sometimes found in playgrounds when they reached the park just outside the forest. The rain pounded down on the plastic dome creating a deafening sound. Tenten sat right beside Neji so she could hear him if he decided to speak.

"Neji?" Tenten piped up suddenly when something occurred to her.

"Hn," Neji murmured to let her know he was listening.

"D-Did your uncle tell you to quit the band?" Tenten asked.

Neji didn't respond. Tenten watched as his face suddenly twisted as he lifted his hand to his face and sobbed.

Tenten watched him sadly. She put her arms around him to comfort him. Neji didn't even resist.

"H-He s-saw us on T-TV the other d-day..." Neji sobbed. "Apparently H-Hanabi ran to him a-and told h-him that I was on TV..."

"What took him so long to respond then?" Tenten asked.

Neji shrugged. "H-He probably t-talked to t-the elders about it."

"And he told you to quit the band," Tenten murmured.

Neji nodded.

"Why don't you tell him 'no'?"

Neji shook his head. "He won't get it. Apparently I'm 'befouling the Hyuuga name by acting like a fool on public television'."

"You play music! And you're damn good at it too!" Tenten protested.

"He doesn't care..." Neji sniffed. "He doesn't think music is a good path to life."

"What does he want you to do?" Tenten asked with shock.

"I don't even know." Neji sighed and put his head on Tenten's shoulder. "But obviously it doesn't involve music."

"If he doesn't know what he wants out of you, what gives him the right to control your life?" Tenten asked.

"It's tradition, Tenten."

"Bull shit!" Tenten cried, making Neji jump. "He's caging you! He has you on a short leash! That's not right at all! I demand you take me to him! I'll knock some sense into him!" Tenten started to stand up.

Neji put his arms around her and held her in place. "You'd be a fool if you did that. If you did, I'd get blamed for it no matter how you put it, and I'd be the one who takes the consequences."

Tenten sat back on the ground. "B-But it's not fair!" Tenten protested, feeling tears spill down her cheeks. "I-It's not fair at all..."

* * *

Hinata ran out of Tenten's house and ran up the street. It had to be Hiashi. Nobody else could cause Neji to change so quickly. Hinata wasn't about to be forgiving her father any time soon if he kept it this way.

Hinata tore into her house not bothering to take off her wet shoes and ploughed into her father's bedroom.

"Father, why?" She cried.

Hiashi looked up from his book. "Hello Hinata-chan." He greeted. "How was your day?"

"Don't call me 'chan'!" Hinata told him, making Hiashi look at her with surprise.

"What's wrong Hinata?"

"What did you say to Neji?" Hinata cried.

Hiashi narrowed his eyes. "Did you see him on television the other day?"

"Yes I did!" Hinata told him. "In fact I looked forward to it! I cheered him on from the side!"

Hiashi's brow creased with anger. "You knew about this...this...band?"

Hinata stood up straight. "Yes I did. And I supported him all the way."

"You're aware that our entire clan is talking about Neji's appearance on TV? For the record, quite a few of them are disgusted-"

"YEAH YOU AND THE ELDERS!" Hinata screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I'll bet everyone else is proud of him! I'll bet everyone else wants to see him perform!"

"He's destroying the Hyuuga reputation!" Hiashi roared at his daughter. "I won't have it!"

"That's what you think!" Hinata sobbed. "If you could see him perform, you would see it too! I'll bet the whole clan can see it!"

Hiashi looked at Hinata. "What are you talking about?"

"The band made Neji change!" Hinata told him. "Before he formed that band with his friends, never once have I seen him smile..." Hinata wiped her face. "Now, he smiles and laughs all the time..."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed. "I'm stopping the band for Neji's sake."

Hinata stared at her father with shock.

"Fame gets to people's heads. They absorb it, they cater it, next thing they know, something bigger arrives and they're not as popular!" Hiashi threw his book on the desk. "That's when all those problems begin to happen. They start doing drugs, and-"

"NEJI'S BAND ISN'T LIKE THAT!" Hinata cried. "They don't even care if they become famous! They're having fun playing! They love playing music!"

"They start having the paparazzi after them, and they end up on those entertainment shows, and end up part of celebrity gossip."

"Oh I get it..." Hinata growled. Hiashi looked at his normally sweet and quiet daughter in shock. "You just don't want the gossip, do you? You don't want Neji to be talked about negatively so you can keep a good reputation on the Hyuuga name. You don't want all that celebrity stuff for him because you don't want the reputation of the Hyuuga clan to be questioned. WHY IS IT ALWAYS ABOUT THE CLAN?"

"You'll understand when you become the leader." Hiashi said softly.

"What if I don't want to be the leader?" Hinata cried. "I never wanted to be the leader!"

Hiashi frowned. "What's going on with you Hinata? You're yelling at me, and now you're defying me. It's those friends of yours, isn't it?"

"I never wanted to be the leader of this clan!" Hinata sobbed. "I want to be a performer! I want to dance! Like one of those performers from Circ du Soleil!"

Hiashi frowned. "That's not happening." He growled.

"SEE? You're always like this! You only care about 'the clan, the clan, the clan'! You don't even support your daughter anymore!" Hinata sobbed.

"Hinata-"

"NO! No more!" Hinata put her face in her hands. "I'm not staying here anymore! I'm moving out! I'm going to live with Tenten, and Sakura, a-and Temari! They care about me more than you!" Hinata ran out of the room and into what used to be her bedroom. With tears streaming down her face, she dragged a suitcase from the closet and loaded clothes and other valuables into it.

"Hinata!" Hiashi cried from the other side of Hinata's door.

"I'm not a child anymore! It's my life!" Hinata cried. She zipped up her suitcase, and shoved the door open, shoving her father out of the way.

"Hinata!" Hiashi cried as Hinata dragged her bag down the stairs.

"I'm eighteen years old for god's sake!" Hinata cried. "Leave me alone!" Then Hinata was gone, leaving Hiashi standing at the front door, completely helpless.

* * *

Tenten's cell phone went off in her pocket. She pulled it out and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

_T-Tenten?_ Hinata's soft voice came through the phone.

"Is something wrong, Hinata?"

_I-I'm moving in with you...if that's okay..._

"Why?" Tenten asked with shock. "Sorry, it's not that I don't want you to, it's just that I'm confused..."

_I'm moving in...I went to my father to talk about Neji...We got in a fight. I'm not going back._

"All right, Hinata..."

_Thank you, Tenten..._

"You're welcome." Tenten closed her phone.

"What did Hinata do?" Neji asked tiredly.

"She ran away from home. She's living with us now."

Neji chuckled. "Good for her...She's too good to be trapped by Hiashi..."

"She tried to defend you, you know."

Neji looked at Tenten. "She did what?"

"She told me she went to Hiashi to talk about you. They got in a fight, and Hinata left home."

Neji put his head down. "Shoot..."

"What?"

"I feel bad now...She tried to defend me..."

"Don't blame yourself Neji. She loves your band just as much as I do, or Temari or Sakura does. She's been supporting you the whole way. I know she has."

Neji looked at her with his pale eyes. Tenten suddenly noticed that they weren't all white. They seemed to have a soft lavender tint to them.

"Don't chew yourself out over Hinata leaving home. She made the decision herself. I know because she jumps at the chance to sleep over at my house. She really didn't want to live there either." Tenten smiled. "I'll bet she'll be much happier once she gets settled."

Neji looked at his feet. "You should go help her move in." He murmured.

Tenten looked at him. "You want to be alone for a bit, don't you?"

Neji smiled up at her. "You understand me better than anyone ever has."

Tenten gasped as Neji's arms wrapped around her and pulled her close to him.

"Thank you." He murmured. He softly kissed her cheek before letting her go.

Tenten slid away from him, trying to hide the fact that her heart was pounding and her face was burning.

"I-I'll see you, Neji..." Tenten said faintly before crawling out of the plastic dome.

Neji listened to her retreating footsteps, smiling to himself.

* * *

Tenten walked through her front door to see Hinata sitting on the couch, her suitcase on the floor beside her. She immediately leapt up at the sight of Tenten and hugged her.

"Its okay, Hinata..." Tenten reassured her.

"Did you find Neji?"

"Yes. I've already spoken to him. He knows what happened with you and Hiashi."

Hinata nodded, and then pulled away from Tenten. She wiped her eyes and looked confidently into Tenten's eyes.

"How much have I changed?" She asked

Tenten smiled. "From what I can see in your eyes, you've changed a lot."

Hinata grinned and ran back to her suitcase. "Where am I staying?"

* * *

Neji made his decision. He wasn't ready to give up yet. If shy Hinata had the strength to pull away, then Neji with his large ego should be able to pull away as well. Neji crawled out of the dome, turned on his phone and proceeded to call Itachi.

"Hey Itachi." Neji said upon hearing Itachi's 'Hello'.

_Neji, what the hell is going on?_

"Nothing." Neji replied. "I take it back."

_Oh good..._ Itachi sighed with relief.

Something suddenly grabbed Neji from behind. His cell phone was taken out of his hand as he hit the ground. Neji looked up at his attackers and saw the people he didn't want to see. It was Black Death, minus their vocalist.

Neji watched as Pain put his cell phone to his ear.

"Hello, Itachi. Guess who it is?" Pain said with a smirk. "Right on." He said after a moment. He handed the phone to Hidan. "Put it on speaker. I want the fool to hear all of this."

Hidan hit the speaker button.

Neji watched Pain reach inside his black jacket. Neji's heart stopped at the sight of the handgun.

"W-What are you going to do with that...?" Neji gasped.

Pain cocked the gun. "Itachi," He announced.

_Pain, what are you doing?_ Itachi's voice quivered. Deidara laughed.

Pain pointed the gun at Neji. "Your vocalist is dead." He said simply

_PAIN!_ Itachi's voice screamed.

_**RUN! **_Something told him. Neji tore off as fast as he could.

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Neji felt a single sharp pain in his back. He swore he saw a bullet shoot right out of his chest. He ignored it and kept running, only to hear three more gunshots moments later. Two more sharp pains and Neji collapsed into the mud.

**A/N: O.o What did I tell you? I told you you'd hate them eventually.**

**(1) RPG: a portable, shoulder launched, anti-tank rocket propelled grenade. Snake shoots them in SSBB. I think it stands for Rocket Powered Grenade :) I just thought of that.**

**(2) Ike sounds like he's saying "oh" when he flies off into the distance. They all have a very unique scream when they fly away. Toon Link: HWAAAAAHHHH! Marth: GAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Link: GWAAAAHHHAHHHHHHH! XD**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	20. Chapter 20: Smoke

**A/N: Feel the tension? If you want the honest truth the Neji shooting part didn't happen the way I had originally planned. Originally, I planned to have Neji abducted off the street and dragged into the woods. Then Pain was supposed to tell Neji to call Itachi, (just so Pain could laugh) then Konan was supposed to take the phone and turn it into a video call. Pain was supposed to bluff at first to get stone-faced Neji to react, (it works) then Neji sticks his hand in front of the gun and pushes it away, gets a bullet through his hand, then he throws the gun, books it and gets shot in the ankle, shoulder and waist. Then he was supposed to be picked up on the side of the road by someone he didn't even know...the rest is history. Yeah I just thought I'd tell you that XD. Enjoy.**

Chapter 20: Smoke

Itachi stared at the wall. "No..." He gasped.

Itachi heard Hidan's laugh through the phone.

_You nailed him Pain!_

Deidara laughed now. _Look at him! The so-called prodigy! God, get a picture of this!_

"PAIN! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" Itachi screamed into the phone.

The group was looking at Itachi like he was crazy.

Itachi heard the laughing again.

_Look at your screen, Itachi._

Itachi looked at his screen to see that Pain sent him a picture of Neji lying face down in the mud.

"Oh my god..." Shikamaru gasped.

Itachi closed his phone and threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud _crack_ and amazingly it remained intact.

Itachi jumped up and ran for Tenten's basement stairs. "Neji got shot!" He cried.

"WHAT?" The group was stunned. They followed Itachi out of the house at a dead run, several of them not even wearing shoes. Tenten was the last one out. She flung the door shut behind her. Shikamaru was faster than Itachi. The normally lazy boy was sprinting ahead of Itachi, who was a track star back in High School. Nobody noticed.

If you were to ask the group how they knew where Neji was, they wouldn't be able to answer. They just went by their gut instincts, and found Black Death trying to hide Neji in a bush.

Itachi picked up his speed and tore towards Pain.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He screamed.

Pain raised his gun again and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

"WHAT-" Pain stared at his gun.

"It's a SIX SHOOTER you idiot!" Hidan told him. "You used all six when-"

Pain got Itachi's fist in his face. The two were now wrestling on the ground.

"Bloody..." Hidan pulled out a switchblade and went towards Itachi. A hand suddenly gripped his wrist. Hidan looked at the pineapple head, just has his fist met the side of his head.

Shikamaru pinned Hidan's arms behind his back as if to dislocate his shoulder. Naruto tackled Deidara to the ground.

"Sasori! Help!" Deidara cried, trying to push Naruto off him.

"You! Son! Of! A!" Naruto cried punching Deidara in the face with every word.

Sasori tried to get Naruto off Deidara, but that was kind of hard when you have Sasuke holding you back.

"Go for it Sakura!" Sasuke cried. "Hit him good!"

Sakura gave a fierce battle cry and her fist connected with Sasori's nose. Sasuke dropped Sasori as he yelped when his nose went _crunch_ beneath Sakura's fist.

"TAKE NEJI!" Itachi cried, struggling with Pain on the ground.

Sakura and Tenten rushed to Neji and picked him up. He was dead weight.

_He's unconscious...He's unconscious..._ Tenten kept thinking to herself as they ran him out of the park. But Tenten didn't like the way blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.

"Put him down!" Sakura ordered.

They put Neji down. Sakura immediately put her ear on his chest. She sat like that for a few seconds.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. "He's alive!" She cried. She suddenly caught sight of the gathering crowd.

"What the hell are you standing around for? CALL 911!" She screamed at them. Sakura then flipped Neji onto his side. His brain kicked in and he coughed up the blood that had accumulated in his chest.

"Wow Sakura...How do you know all this?" Temari asked with awe.

"I had lifeguard training." She said simply.

At that moment the boys arrived from their battle. Itachi had a nice lump on his eyebrow, Naruto had a slightly bloody nose, Shikamaru had a badly split lip, and Sasuke had a long scratch down the side of his face.

"He's alive..." Sakura told them. "Barely..."

At that moment, sirens filled the air. An ambulance pulled up right beside them, and several paramedics rushed from all doors of the vehicle.

The group backed away, letting the paramedics get to Neji. The driver and another paramedic set about doing crowd control, shooing away all bystanders.

The paramedics put Neji on a stretcher after doing their best to temporarily stop the bleeding.

"Did anyone do first aid on this boy?" One of them asked.

Sakura stepped forward. "I kind of did. I got him to cough up the blood."

"Good job. That probably saved his life." The paramedic said, and then he leapt into the back of the ambulance and took off for the hospital.

The group stood there for a moment. Then they turned and took off after the ambulance on foot.

The group ran faster than they had ever run before, keeping their eyes on the ambulance ahead of them.

"HINATA!" Hinata turned her head and saw Hiashi on what used to be her front lawn. "Hinata, why are you running?"

"NEJI GOT SHOT!" She cried in a panicked voice and kept running. She didn't see the look of horror appear on her father's face.

Hiashi leapt into his van, started the ignition, and backed out of the driveway. He caught up to the group who was definitely running at over twenty kilometres an hour. He stopped his van beside the group, and rolled down the window.

"GET IN!" He ordered. The group didn't even hesitate and piled into the van.

Hiashi took off before anyone had even buckled their seatbelts.

The group tore into the emergency room, earning themselves startled looks from patients, staff, and basically everyone who was there.

"Where's Neji? Where is he?" Itachi cried to the nearest nurse.

"Go talk to her..." The nurse said faintly and pointed at the nurse who was watching them warily from behind a desk.

Itachi walked over to her. He noticed her nervousness and calmed himself slightly.

"Where is Neji?" Itachi asked her. "He was shot."

"The doctors have taken him in the emergency room already. You'll have to wait for word from the doctor." The nurse said.

The group sighed and took their seats in the waiting room.

"You're bleeding, Itachi." Shikamaru pointed out.

"You're one to talk." Itachi muttered, staring at his split lip. He suddenly noticed his vision going slightly red in one eye. He rubbed his eye and walked back to the desk to ask for a Band-Aid. The nurse stuck a butterfly (1) on Itachi's eyebrow.

"You look like you've been through a fight." The nurse commented.

"I have." Itachi muttered. "We fought the guys who shot Neji to get him to the hospital."

"Ah..." The nurse said. "If there's a nurse free, I'll ask them to look at you guys later."

Itachi nodded. "Thanks." He walked back to his seat.

_Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick..._

The clock on the wall wouldn't cease that incessant ticking. It was aggravating the group. They didn't know how much time had passed, but it was long enough that the halls were bustling a lot less, and they were the only ones in the waiting room.

_Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick..._

Shikamaru was gritting his teeth harder and harder with every tick of that wretched clock.

_Tick...Tick..._

Shikamaru chipped one of his molars. Cringing, he spat the shard into his hand.

"What did you do?" Temari asked faintly.

"I chipped my tooth." Shikamaru ran his tongue over the tiny chip. It wasn't really noticeable, but it was still there. He bitterly threw the shard on the floor.

_Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick..._

Shikamaru clenched his fists. That stupid ticking! It was maddening! Neji was probably dying right now, and that stupid clock was going out of its way to emphasise every goddamned second that passed as if counting down to Neji's death.

Shikamaru lost it. He jumped off the chair, stood up on the chair beneath the clock, knocked it off the wall, caught it, and brought it to the desk nurse.

The nurse looked at him with surprise.

"Put it away...I can't stand the ticking anymore..." Shikamaru said stiffly, his voice cracking at times.

The nurse nodded in understanding, took the clock and put it in a drawer.

Shikamaru sat down in the chair again.

Tenten suddenly burst into tears. The group looked at her with surprise.

"Tenten..." Temari put her arm around Tenten.

"I-I-It's m-m-m-my fault!" Tenten sobbed. "I c-c-could've t-t-tried to con-convince him t-to come w-w-with me! B-B-But I d-d-didn't!"

"Tenten, it's not your fault!" Temari told her. "You couldn't have known that would happen if you left him alone!"

"I-I-I could've s-stayed with him!" Tenten sobbed.

"Then you would have gotten shot too!" Temari reminded her.

Tenten continued to cry. Then something suddenly clicked in her mind.

"No...Why am I blaming myself? It's not my fault!" She looked up and pointed at Hiashi. "It's YOUR fault! If you hadn't told Neji to quit the band, he wouldn't have left the house in the first place!"

Hiashi looked saddened.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT! IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Tenten accused.

"TENTEN!" Hinata cried. "Remember where you are! This is a hospital!"

Tenten cried into Temari's shoulder.

Itachi looked around at the girls. They all were crying in some way or form. It seemed as if girls always cried.

_No..._ Itachi thought to himself. _Boys cry too...They just don't show their tears... They don't let their pain out..._ He looked around at the group. All three boys were stone-faced. Too proud to cry.

He watched a single tear fall down Shikamaru's face. He made no move to wipe it away.

"GEH!" Naruto sobbed and threw his head in his hands.

_But leave them long enough... _Itachi sighed softly. _Even the proudest break._

Sasuke watched his friends cry. He didn't cry anymore. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't cry. Not since the day his parents died in that house fire a month after Itachi moved out. Itachi had been devastated that day as well.

_But why Neji?_ Sasuke thought to himself.

"Itachi?" Sasuke said suddenly.

"Yes?" Itachi responded after a moment.

"Why did they go after Neji?"

The group all looked up.

"You know them better than I do." Sasuke said softly. "So why did they try to kill Neji?"

"That's difficult to explain..." Itachi replied softly. "The way I see it, we're their biggest competition. Black Death never liked competition. They were all for winning, and they'd do anything to get it." Itachi rubbed his face. "They've always targeted vocalists. If they get the vocalist out of the way, the band is as good as screwed. Do you get that?"

The group nodded.

"I honestly think we should take that as a complement. For them to go after Neji with a gun...They really wanted him dead. They didn't want him injured, they wanted him dead." Itachi sighed. "Neji had them scared. Perhaps they thought that he could sing better than that Konan girl. Either way, they tried to eliminate him. They tried to eliminate US."

"Itachi, that band needs to go." Shikamaru said suddenly.

"I know."

"We have to call the police, and hunt them down."

"We have no proof they did it..." Itachi whispered.

"If Neji wakes up, that's all the proof they'll need!" Shikamaru told him. "Besides. Look what I picked up." Shikamaru pulled a grocery bag out from seemingly nowhere. He opened it.

"You got their gun..." Itachi sighed. "Shika, you're a genius!"

"Excuse me?"

The group looked up at a doctor.

"You are with Neji Hyuuga?" He asked.

"Yes." The group said practically at the same time.

The doctor nodded. "He's in critical condition. He got three bullets in the back, one was lodged in the front of his chest, and two went straight through, one of them barely missing his heart. We had to get him into surgery to close up the bullet holes. He can't breathe on his own, and he's gone into cardiac arrest once. It's a miracle he made it this far."

The group was silent.

"W-Will he recover?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know yet. It's still too early." The doctor replied. "The police have been called. They're on their way here."

"Shika, give me the bag." Itachi ordered. Shikamaru gave Itachi the bag.

"What are you going to do?" Shikamaru asked as Itachi took it.

"I'm going to put these bastards in jail, where they belong, once and for all." Itachi said, his normally warm onyx eyes cold as frozen steel.

The police entered the waiting room, and Itachi approached them immediately.

"Do you have information on the shooting?" The officer asked.

"Heck, I can give you names, descriptions, and the weapon." Itachi said holding out the bag.

The police looked shocked.

"The weapon was picked up by Shikamaru Nara." Itachi said as they took the weapon. "So if you find his fingerprints on it, he's innocent. I can prove that as well."

The police looked at the weapon in the bag.

"Can I help you with this investigation?" Itachi asked the police.

The police looked at him like he was crazy.

"I don't mean crime scene whatever. I mean just let me help you track them down."

"You're not going to hunt them down," The officer said.

"No, I mean I'll give you whatever information I have on these guys! I'll send e-mails to different people if you need me to."

"Come with us." The officer said.

Itachi nodded, and then turned to his friends. "Update me on Neji if anything happens."

"Sure thing." Shikamaru told him.

Itachi followed the officer out of the hospital.

**A/N: Soo? First chapter of the day. It's only 9:30 in the morning! Took me about uhmm...two hours to write? I went to bed planning out the next few chapters XD. REVIEW!**

**(1)That's what my mom calls them. They're like this very sticky white thing that holds your skin together when you split your head open like Itachi did.**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	21. Chapter 21: Hunt

**A/N: Have any of you heard of Sponge-Odd Square-Parents day? That's today...So I'm being tortured by SpongeBob and Fairly Odd Parents...Cosmo is stupider than Naruto, you know that? XD**

Chapter 21: Hunt

Itachi walked into the police station with the two policemen. Actually, one was a woman, so the better word would be police officers. Itachi was taken into an interrogation room. A constable was already sitting at the table.

"Hello." The constable greeted.

"Hi." Itachi said calmly. He sat down in a chair.

"So, what happened?" The constable turned to the two officers.

"A boy was shot today." The female officer said. "This man has information on the shooting."

The officer put the gun now in an evidence bag on the table. "He gave us this."

The constable narrowed his eyes at Itachi.

"How do we know it wasn't you who shot the gun?" The constable asked.

"Because Shikamaru Nara picked up the gun. You won't find my finger prints on it." Itachi replied.

"Tell me about the shooting." The constable told Itachi.

Itachi relayed the information that he heard on the phone.

"So, you know these people?" The constable asked.

"Yes. I'm ashamed to say I used to be a member of their band." Itachi told the constable. "But when I found out they were beating up members of other bands that were considered 'threats' to them, I quit."

"Why didn't you report this to the police originally?" The constable asked.

"Because I had no proof." Itachi said simply. "Now I do. They shot one of my best friends."

"Do you have photographs of these men?"

"Of course I do." Itachi replied. "They're at my house. Let me help you any way I can. These guys beat me to a pulp about a month ago, and now they've drawn the line behind their ankles. (1)"

The constable nodded. "Could we use you as communication? You're in a band yourself. You could draw media attention to the issue if need be."

Itachi nodded. He grabbed the notepad that was sitting on the table and wrote his cell phone number down on it. "This is my cell phone number due to lack of a house phone."

The constable chuckled. "All right." He took the number. "Could you drive him to his house to pick up the photographs?" The constable asked the officers.

* * *

Itachi dug through the drawers of his bedroom. He was looking for that ancient photo album. He found it, and dragged it down the stairs to the kitchen table. He flipped it over so the back was facing up, and he opened it flipping to the pages where Black Death was. Itachi pulled out the group photograph that unfortunately included himself.

The police nodded at it. "Have they changed much?"

"Not really." Itachi began pointing out the individual people. "The one with orange hair has a few more piercings, the one with grey hair grew his hair longer, the blonde's hair is longer as well, and the redhead hasn't changed a bit."

"What are their names?"

"The orange haired one is Pain. He's the leader of the group. The grey haired one is Pain's right hand man. They're never seen without each other. He's Hidan. The blonde is Deidara, and the redhead is Sasori."

The officer wrote down everything Itachi said.

"All right. The constable you talked to is the leader of the investigation. He'll contact you if anything comes up." The officer said.

Itachi nodded.

The officers bid him farewell, and left his house.

Itachi closed the photo album and picked it up to put it back where it belonged. The album slipped from his arms as he reached the top of the stairs, and fell open again.

Itachi stared stone-faced at the photo of him and a mischievous looking female. He quickly slammed the album shut. He tossed it on top of a shoebox that was probably empty so he could get it quickly if the police needed more photographs of Black Death.

Itachi sat down at his desk and booted up his computer, his cell phone lying beside it on the desk.

* * *

Back at the hospital, the group minus two were sitting in the waiting room as the sun rose on day two of the disaster. The group was bleary eyed, and Hinata looked to be nodding off. Hiashi had to leave in the middle of the night to look after his youngest daughter, Hanabi, who was probably worried sick about him.

Hinata's head fell onto her chest and shot back up again. She blinked her pale eyes that now looked paler due to the dark shadows beneath her eyes.

Shikamaru had fallen asleep on his fist. His elbow rested on the armrest of his chair, his cheek distorted by his clenched hand.

A nurse came over to the group. "Hey," She said softly. The group looked up at her with tired eyes. "There's private room you can sleep in if you're going to be staying here for awhile." The nurse said.

Sasuke shook Shikamaru awake.

Shikamaru's eyes peeled open slowly. Then he jumped to attention. "Neji!" He gasped.

"He's still unconscious, dear." The nurse told him.

The nurse lead the weary group into one of those rooms specially designed for the family or friends of sick or injured patients. There were only two beds.

"Hinata, you take a bed." Temari said softly.

Hinata nodded, too sleepy to argue.

The boys ordered Shikamaru onto the other bed, before lying down on the floor, or sitting against a wall. The girls did the same.

* * *

Back at Itachi's house, Itachi wasn't sleeping at all. He was constantly sipping coffee, which he never drank until now. He vowed that after this, he wouldn't drink it again. The shadows under his eyes were deeper than Hinata's, but his eyes weren't weary like hers. They were hard, and wide-awake. Itachi wasn't going to rest until Pain was found.

* * *

The group woke up instantly around noon when the door to their private room opened. The doctor they saw the night before stood in the doorway.

"How is he?" Tenten murmured wearily.

"His condition hasn't improved, but nor has it gotten any worse. He's stable right now, but he still can't breathe on his own. You can see him if you want."

The group instantly got up. The doctor led them to Neji's room. Tenten tried not to cry when she saw Neji hooked up to the various wires and tubes that were the only things keeping him alive. As the group sat around his bed, Tenten realized how thin some of the tubes were, and how fragile they looked. To think that if one were to break, her friend would die.

Tenten brushed a tear off her cheek. Without thinking, she reached out and took his hand. She didn't know why she did it, but a moment after taking his hand, she thought of those medical miracle shows where the person who was unconscious began to communicate while unconscious.

"What are you doing Tenten?" Shikamaru asked when he noticed she was holding his hand.

Tenten shrugged. "I wanted to see if he'd respond."

Shikamaru nodded. "Talk to him."

"Neji, it's Tenten..." Tenten said softly. "We're all here for you." She got no response.

"Don't die on us Neji." Naruto growled softly. "If you do I'll...I'll..." Naruto frowned. What could he do to someone that died?

Tenten's eyes suddenly widened. "Guys he just squeezed my hand." She said in a monotone.

The group looked at her with shock.

"You're kidding..." Shikamaru said with his eyes wide.

Tenten felt the strangest thing of all. Neji's index finger seemed to be tracing letters on the palm of her hand.

_N... A... R... U... T... O..._ "He's saying something...Naruto..." _Y... O... U... A... R... E... _"You are..." _A... N... I... D... I... O... T ..._

Tenten began to laugh.

"What did he say?" Naruto asked.

"He says you're an idiot." Tenten laughed.

Naruto laughed. "Yup, that's Neji."

"That's amazing..." Shikamaru said behind his hand. "I've heard of that happening, but I've never seen it."

The doctor came back in. "What happened?" The doctor asked upon seeing their amazed faces.

"He just spoke." Tenten said.

The doctor frowned. "What?"

"He wrote on my palm." Tenten explained.

"Wow." The doctor raised his eyebrows. "What did he say?"

"Naruto, you are an idiot." Tenten said simply.

The doctor laughed. "He didn't say 'I love you'?"

"Why would he?" Tenten asked.

"That's usually what happens. I've only seen that happen once before, with a kid who knew sign language. He spelled out 'I love you, mom' when his mom was nearby." The doctor sighed. "I hate to tell you to leave, but I need to look him over again to make sure the wounds are healing."

The group nodded. Tenten let go of his hand, a bit unnerved when he gripped a little tighter. "I'll be back." She told him, and his grip loosened.

The group walked back to their room. Shikamaru headed towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Temari asked.

"To call Itachi and tell him about Neji." He said simply.

* * *

Itachi's phone rang, making him practically jump out of his skin. He picked it up and read the caller. It was Shikamaru.

He flipped it open. "Hey Shika. How's Neji?"

_You wouldn't believe what happened!_ Shikamaru sounded excited. _It was so weird!_

"What happened?"

_Neji communicated with us while he was unconscious!_

"Whoa...that's cool. What did he say?"

_Well, Naruto threatened him, saying if Neji died...well he didn't finish his sentence because you can't threaten a dead man right?_

"Right?"

_Tenten was holding his hand at the time and told us that he was writing on her palm. He spelled each letter on her palm, and he said 'Naruto, You are an idiot'._

Itachi burst out laughing. "Oh that's precious!"

_How is the hunt coming along?_

"All right. I still haven't gotten any news from the police."

_Ah. Well, I'll call later. I'm exhausted._

"You get some sleep." Itachi told Shikamaru in a moment of hypocrisy.

_Later,_ Shikamaru said, and the phone went dead.

Itachi closed his phone again.

He tried to imagine Neji calling Naruto an idiot just by palm writing. He smiled and began to laugh when the image appeared crystal clear in his mind.

His phone rang again. With a lightened heart, he picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

_Itachi Uchiha?_ The voice asked.

"Yes, that's me."

_There are no more leads to Neji's shooters. Our K9 unit isn't finding anything, and nobody who lives in the area of the park has seen anything. I'm sorry Itachi, the case has gone cold._

Itachi leaned back in his chair. "No way..." He whispered.

**A/N: I LOVE cliff hangers! I'm really getting into this cliff hanger thing...the amusing thing is, nobody's reviewed my new chapters yet...Everyone's at school except me! XD ha-ha. They'll have a surprise when they get home. Victoria Day in Canada my friends! It's a national holiday!**

**REVIEW!**

**(1)I made that up: "they've drawn the line behind their ankles." It means they've drawn the line they've already crossed.**


	22. Chapter 22: Contact

**A/N: I'm melting...It's only the end of May, and it's already hotter than a microwave oven... I have never wished for snow more than how bad I want it now...**

Chapter 22: Contact

Itachi stared at his blank computer screen wishing for something, anything that might give him information on Pain's whereabouts. He sighed and let his head hit the desk. He fell asleep a few moments after.

Tenten couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about how Neji spoke to her by writing on her palm. It broke her heart when she thought of how his hand gripped hers tightly when she stood up to leave.

Tenten got up off the floor and walked into the hallway. She had to see Neji. The hallways were silent, save for a few janitors sweeping the floors.

"Are you all right dear?" A sweet voice said behind her making Tenten jump.

Tenten looked at the nurse. "Yes...I'm just worried about Neji." She said softly. "I can't sleep."

The nurse nodded sadly. "All right, I'll take you to him."

Tenten smiled gratefully as the nurse lead her to Neji's room.

Neji slept soundly in his unconscious state. Tenten looked at his unmoving form sadly, and sat in a chair beside his bed. She reached for his hand.

"I'm back, Neji." She said softly. Neji's fingers curled around her hand. It was creepy and sad at the same time.

Tenten put her head on the table beside Neji's bed, her arm acting as a pillow. She could sleep here if she really wanted to.

Neji's finger began to move on her palm again. Tenten concentrated on the letters.

_Y... O... U... R... E... N... O... T... G... O... I... N... G... T... O... L... E... A... V... E... A... G... A... I... N... A... R... E... Y... O... U..._

Tenten smiled. "I'm not going to leave unless I have to. I can sleep here."

_T... H... A... N... K... Y... O... U..._

"You're welcome Neji." Tenten closed her eyes, and fell asleep beside Neji's bed.

* * *

_Ring...Ring...Ring...Ring...*click* This is Itachi Uchiha. Either I can't come to the phone right now, it's turned off, or I somehow lost it or forgot it at home. You know the drill. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you unless I'm purposely ignoring you. *beep*_

The girl with black hair closed the phone with a smile. At least she got the number right. She wouldn't have driven what felt like a million miles just to get to Konoha only to find out that Itachi didn't live here anymore.

She had been watching KM TV the other day, and saw Itachi on television. However, that wasn't enough to prove that Itachi was still living in Konoha. The final word had come when she ran into Pain, Itachi's best friend. She asked him if Itachi was still living in Konoha.

"Duh." He replied and kept going. He had seemed very bitter.

The black haired girl flipped her phone open again and redialled Itachi's phone number.

* * *

_Itachi was defusing a bomb. His heart pounded as he watched the clock tick down._

_BRRRRING! The timer screeched. Itachi screamed as the bomb blew up in his face._

Itachi gasped and sat up in his chair. He sighed with relief when he realized it was just a dream.

_Ring..._ Itachi twitched slightly at the sound of his phone ringing. He grabbed his phone and looked at the number. He scratched his head. The number was vaguely familiar, but his weary mind couldn't place it. He flipped the phone open.

"Hello?" He asked with a yawn.

_Itachi? My god is that you? _A vaguely familiar voice came through the phone.

"Last I checked that's who I was." He murmured

_Where are you? Are you still in Konoha?_

"Yes of course I'm in Konoha. Who is this?" Itachi asked, getting out of his chair.

_Don't tell me you've forgotten already! Jeeze Itachi, you're so dense!_

"Remind me." Itachi muttered sitting on his bed, running his hand through his messy hair. He was in desperate need of a shower.

_Aw, come on Itachi. Don't you recognize my voice at least?_

"Sorry, I've been busy hunting down the son of a bitch that shot my friend for the last 48 hours! I haven't slept a wink!" Itachi spat bitterly.

_...Who was shot?_

"Why should I tell you? I don't even know who you are!"

_Itachi, you couldn't have forgotten me already...It's only been five years..._

Itachi froze. His hand was still in his hair, his eyes were looking at the wall, but his mind was somewhere else. In five seconds flat, he made connections he hadn't made for a long time. He suddenly saw a girl with shining black hair, blue eyes sparkling as she laughed at him while water dripped off his clothes as he stood on the front porch of his house, an overturned bucket on the ground in front of him.

"A-Azimora?" Itachi gasped.

_There you go. So who was shot?_

Itachi's phone hit the ground with a sharp _thunk _as it slipped from his hand. "N-No way..." he whispered softly.

_Itachi? Itachi, are you there?_

Itachi picked up his phone. "Why? Why are you calling?" Itachi said faintly.

_I saw you on TV the other day. I didn't know whether you were still in Konoha or not, but after I saw you on TV, and I knew that you were still out there, I tried to find information on where you were. I ran into Pain-_

"You did WHAT?" Itachi's heart stopped.

_Pain. Isn't he your friend? I asked him if you were still-_

"You saw Pain?"

_Yes...Why?_

"Where was he?"

_He was entering Sunagakure...Why?_

"He shot Neji."

The girl on the other side of the phone went silent.

"I'm going to call the police."

_Wait! Itachi, where are you?_

"In Konoha!"

_So am I!_

Itachi's heart skipped. "Why?"

_I was LOOKING for you, you idiot!_

Itachi went silent.

_Where in Konoha are you? I want to see you again._

Itachi stared at the floor. He then murmured his address, his heart racing at the thought of seeing Azimora again.

_I'll see you soon..._

Itachi nodded numbly. He heard the _click _as the line went dead. Itachi closed his phone. It was as if time had stopped. He could swear he was dreaming.

Azimora had moved away from Konoha with her family five years ago. Itachi had been friends with Pain at the time she broke up with him and left.

Itachi shook himself for a moment. He flipped his phone open and dialled the constable's number.

_Hello?_

"It's Itachi. I know where Pain is."

_I'll send a unit over. _The line went dead.

Itachi sat on his bed with his forehead in his hands. He didn't know how long he sat there, but he was pulled out of it by a knock at the door. Itachi got up and walked down the stairs, holding the railing and concentrating on where he was placing his feet so he wouldn't fall.

There was another knock at the door. Itachi's heart pounded as he reached for the doorknob. He opened the door and saw the police.

"Good day, Itachi." The officer said.

"Hey."

"So, where do you suspect they are?"

"I got a call from an old friend. She told me she saw them all the way in Suna."

"Wow." The officer wrote it down. "No wonder we couldn't find them." The officer looked up at Itachi. "You get some sleep. You don't look good."

Itachi smiled at them. "Don't worry. I will."

The officer nodded and walked away from the door with a farewell. Itachi let the door close again, turned around and stopped dead in his tracks. Something didn't feel right. He might have been just getting paranoid, but he felt like he was being watched.

"Who's there?" Itachi said in a monotone. He saw movement by the window. He crept towards the window, and cracked it open. He put his head out and looked around. He looked down, to his left, his right, up and straight ahead. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Other than-

Itachi yelped at the sight of a snake coming through the window. He jumped away from it and realized it was just one of those toy snakes with the joints on it to make it move like a real snake. He grinned to himself.

_This means war..._ Itachi closed the window and went down into the basement. He grabbed a chair, and crawled out the basement window into the backyard. He crawled out of the drainage ditch and looked around again. He heard a twig snap to his left, and he ran on the balls of his bare feet to the balcony, pulled himself onto the underside of the balcony and hung there, as if he were a ninja. He smiled to himself at the sight of the dark figure creeping across his backyard. The figure disappeared.

"Ca CAW! ca CAW!" Itachi mimicked a crow when he couldn't see the figure anywhere. He quickly flipped himself up onto the balcony afterwards, and lay on his stomach. He heard rushed footsteps approaching. Itachi rolled quietly towards the sliding door and quietly opened it. He pulled himself through and slammed it shut, making it as loud as he could. He laughed as he saw the figure moving.

He ran to the living room light switch and rapidly flicked it on and off. He left it on and tied a piece of fishing line to the switch, before hid in the empty cabinet under the living room television. He heard the sliding door open, and heard the faint click as it shut. Itachi counted to five as he heard muffled footsteps, and yanked on the fishing line. He heard a distinct gasp as the room went dark. Itachi slid out of the cabinet, without making a sound. He peeked around the side of the couch that was in front of the television at the figure silhouetted against the sliding door. He slid quietly under the couch after softly snapping his fingers. He heard the person's footsteps running towards the couch. Itachi slid sideways out from under the couch and kneeled behind the couch. The figure was standing completely still. Itachi saw the shiny black hair and smirked.

Itachi pulled out his always useful iPod, turned the volume down, and went to the 'annoying noises' folder. He selected 'chainsaw', cranked the volume and smiled to himself. He began making a raspy breathing sound similar to Darth Vader.

Itachi distorted his voice. "You've fallen into my trap fool!" He hit play on the chainsaw sound and began to laugh like a lunatic with his signature evil laugh. His evil laugh turned into a real laugh when he heard a scream.

He stopped the chainsaw sound and continued to laugh behind the couch.

"I-Itachi? Is that you?" The girl asked.

"No, it's the muffin man." Itachi chuckled. He pulled the wrapped muffin he had been saving for a snack from the pocket in his hoodie and threw it over his head towards the front of the couch.

"Mmm, Blueberry? You know me too well."

"That's been in my pocket for the last 24 hours." Itachi felt the couch move and he looked up as Azimora's face appeared over the back of the couch. Her black hair flowed over her face, and tickled Itachi's face.

"Hello Itachi." She said with a smirk.

"Hello."

"You scared me you know?"

Itachi smirked. "Good. It's about time I got you back." Itachi reached up to the girl and pulled her head down.

"Hmm..." Azimora sighed as his lips met hers. Itachi stood up without letting go of Azimora, and crawled over the back of the couch, pulling her into his arms as he did. Azimora pulled him over her as she lied down on the couch. Itachi ran his fingers through her soft hair as her arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer.

Azimora turned her head away from Itachi's lips. She turned her head back and felt his cheek on hers. "Bite me..." She sighed in his ear.

"You asked for it," Itachi murmured in reply. Azimora gasped as Itachi bit the skin at the base of her neck.

"Uhnn..." She moaned. "You haven't changed a bit."

Itachi held her close. He had lost her once, and he wasn't about to be losing her again. "Don't ever leave again." He told her.

"Never..." She sighed.

Itachi rolled onto his side, still holding her close. He closed his eyes and fell asleep with his arm around her.

* * *

Tenten opened her eyes as she felt Neji's hand move. She looked at him with surprise as she saw his eyelids moving.

"Neji?" Tenten watched as his eyes opened slightly. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the hospital room. His lavender-tinted eyes focused on her shocked face.

"Neji..." She whispered. Neji's hand let go of hers and reached up to touch her face.

_You stayed..._ His eyes told her.

Tenten smiled at him. "I'm glad you're all right."

At that moment, the rest of the group filed in along with the doctor and saw Neji awake for the first time in 48 hours.

**A/N: Do you feel it? That warm and fuzzy feeling? I do. XD.**

**By the way, I claim no rights over Azimora. She's not my OC, she's SparkDazzleDuez's OC. She personally sent me a personal message asking who I was going to pair Itachi up with, and since I had absolutely no idea, and she asked me so nicely, I decided to use her OC. :) Did I get her character all right? XD**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	23. Chapter 23: War

**A/N: ACK! Gomenasai! It's been too long since I've updated...About a week now, I think. Please don't start banging on my front door as a full-fledged angry mob- *knock knock knock* Oh heck...angry readers have arrived HELP! LEAVE ME ALONE SO I CAN WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER! D:**

Chapter 23: War

"NEJI!" Shikamaru cried. "Oh god you're alive!"

Neji gazed at Shikamaru with tired eyes. The group spread out around Neji's bed.

"Good to see you again, Neji." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Neji's eyes drifted closed again.

"Aw, really?" Naruto whined. "One moment he's awake, and the next he falls asleep again."

"He's probably on heavy painkillers, Naruto." Sakura told him. "He did get shot three times, and he had to go through surgery."

"I don't get it." Naruto muttered bitterly. "Why do painkillers knock people out? I mean, why?"

Sakura sighed. "You're so dense! Painkillers are depressants! They slow down all body systems, such as the nervous system, the circulatory system, digestive system- You following me okay Naruto?"

Naruto seemed to be drooling.

"Use simpler words." Sasuke said with a smirk. "Naruto was never good in Biology."

Sakura sighed again. "Painkillers slow down your body. Got that?"

Naruto nodded.

"They slow your heart rate, meaning, how fast your heart beats."

Naruto nodded.

"And it slows down your brain. It's like trying to think through syrup. It doesn't work."

Naruto nodded again.

"Painkillers knock people out because it slows everything down." Sakura frowned as she tried to come up with a good example, that didn't include alcohol, of the affects of painkillers on the body.

"Your body is working so slowly, that you can't stay awake." Sakura finally said. "Coffee does the opposite, it speeds you up so you're more active. Now do you get it?"

"YEAH!" Naruto said happily.

Sakura sighed and sat in a chair.

"Training to be a nurse, Sakura?" Sasuke chuckled.

Sakura frowned. "No Sasuke. I'm going to be a paramedic." Sakura sat up proudly.

"You? A paramedic?" Sasuke scoffed. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Sakura cracked her knuckles and gave Sasuke her death glare. "What do you think?" She growled.

Sasuke raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. You'll make an excellent paramedic."

Sakura smiled sweetly. "Thank you!"

Sasuke looked taken aback.

_She's like... two people at once..._

Whoa, wait...does that even make sense? Sasuke frowned. Nothing made sense to him anymore.-

At that moment, the doctor strolled in. "Hello,"

"Neji woke up." The group said almost simultaneously.

The doctor raised his eyebrows. "Did he now? That's a good sign."

The group was then kicked out of Neji's room so the doctor could run his rounds.

* * *

Azimora stared at the sleeping Uchiha. He clearly wasn't about to be waking up. Itachi's cell phone had been ringing endlessly for the last half hour.

The phone began to ring again. Azimora's eye began to twitch. She was beginning to go insane from that damned thing. Azimora reached into Itachi's pocket and pulled out his phone, which was still ringing nice and loud.

Itachi suddenly twitched and opened his eyes. He yawned tiredly. "Who's calling?"

"No clue." Azimora muttered. "But you're awake now, so who cares!" Azimora tossed the phone into the corner, jumped back on the couch, and wrapped her arms around Itachi.

Itachi put his hand over her face and pushed her away. He slid off the couch and grabbed the phone in the corner. By now, the phone wasn't ringing, but he checked his incoming call list and all he saw was a long line of _Shikamaru Nara, Shikamaru Nara, Shikamaru Nara._

Itachi smiled to himself upon checking the times of his calls. They were practically back-to-back for the last half hour.

Itachi turned around and jumped upon realizing Azimora was right behind him.

"Don't do that to me. I'm exhausted." Itachi sighed, pushing past her and lying back down on the couch.

"And twitchy. Don't forget twitchy!" Azimora said with a touch of sarcasm.

"Eh heh heh..." Itachi gave his false uneasy laugh.

"You're so _BORING _Itachi." Azimora sighed, groaning when she said the word 'boring'.

Itachi didn't bother responding. He just closed his eyes again.

The front door suddenly opened.

"...what he's been doing all this time." Sasuke's voice muttered bitterly.

"Itachi! We come with news!" Shikamaru's voice called.

Itachi's eyes opened again. "What's up, guys?" Itachi asked tiredly from the couch.

The group appeared in the living room door, starting with Sasuke, who caught sight of Azimora immediately and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Neji woke up!" Naruto cried happily.

Shikamaru noticed Sasuke's posture and noticed Azimora as well. It wasn't long after that that the entire group, including the girls, were glancing from Itachi, to Azimora, and back to Itachi.

"YOU!" Sasuke cried breaking the silence. "What the HELL are you doing here?"

"Relax chicken-butt. I've been here all night." Azimora said with a smirk. "Long time, no see?" She raised an eyebrow.

Sasuke walked to his brother and dragged him by the hoodie off the couch and into the kitchen.

"All right, I know you're mad-"

"Why is SHE here?" Sasuke cried. "I thought she MOVED!"

"She did." Itachi told him. "Believe me, I was surprised too."

"Are you going to be freaking out all night, chicken-butt? Or are you going to greet me nicely?" Azimora asked leaning against the wall, smiling alluringly, though her eyes were telling a different story.

"Stop calling me chicken-butt!" Sasuke cried.

Azimora rolled her eyes. "It's the only appropriate name for you."

"My name is SASUKE!" Sasuke cried.

"Okay, whatever you say, Sa-su-ke!" Azimora said in a sweet singsong voice, splitting up the two and a half syllables into three (1).

"Oh god, help me..." Sasuke groaned, running a hand down his face and walking out of the room.

"Yeah, you guys never got along..." Itachi muttered watching Sasuke leave. "I forgot about that..."

Azimora put an arm around Itachi's shoulders. "Well, chicken-butt-"

"ARGH! SASUKE!" Sasuke's voice cried from the other room.

Azimora frowned. "Rooster-ass is just going to have to deal, because I'm here to stay."

"You are the one that aggravates him." Itachi said, pulling her arm off his shoulder and heading towards the couch again. "And I need to sleep. So if I'm woken up to the two of you scrapping, I'm kicking you out."

"You DO mean chicken-ass of course?" Azimora asked.

"Actually I meant you." Itachi said with a smirk.

"You're so mean, Itachi!" Azimora crossed her arms and pouted like a child.

"Why do you call Sasuke chicken-butt?" Naruto asked suddenly.

Azimora smiled. "Haven't you noticed? Sasuke's hair looks like a chickens butt!"

At that moment, Tenten began to laugh. "Oh my god, it's true..."

"Now you've done it..." Sasuke muttered, trying to flatten his hair down to no avail. "It just grows that way! It's not my fault!"

"No, but now you have to suffer the brunt of society! Or should I say...the BUTT end of society." Azimora laughed.

"THAT'S IT!" Sasuke jumped off the couch and ran after Azimora, who booked it immediately. The group backed out of the way to avoid being schmucked (2) by Sasuke and Azimora.

Itachi stormed through the kitchen causing the group to back out of the way again. Itachi reached the bickering Azimora and Sasuke, grabbed both of them by the hair and cracked their heads together.

"OW!" Azimora cried. Sasuke smirked at her, seeming unfazed by the head bang.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Itachi cried. "One day! Just get along for one day! PLEASE!" He begged. "I don't care HOW you do it! Just get along for one day so I can sleep for crying out loud!"

"Itachi, you gave me a headache!" Azimora whined.

"Suck it up." Sasuke muttered.

Itachi cracked their heads together again.

"THAT WAS HIS FAULT!" Azimora protested.

"You both had a play in this!" Itachi told them. Then he let go of their hair, and walked up the stairs. "Shika, you have permission to whack their heads together if they act up again."

Shikamaru smirked. "Aye aye, Capitan!" Shikamaru saluted Itachi as he retreated into his room.

Sasuke trudged away from Azimora. Azimora gave a death glare at the back of Sasuke's head. "Who wants to play Truth or Dare?" Azimora asked in a high-pitched voice.

"Why? So you can torture Sasuke some more?" Shikamaru asked. "Not happening. Besides, we only play friendly Truth or Dare."

"How does that work?" Azimora asked with a frown.

"Easy. Truth or Dare?" Shikamaru asked her. "This is just a demo."

"Truth." Azimora muttered.

Shikamaru scratched his chin. "What shampoo do you use?"

Azimora frowned. "Why?"

"I asked a truth." Shikamaru told her.

Azimora shrugged. "Pantene."

"Do you need to know how to do a friendly dare?"

"Fine." Azimora grumbled.

"I dare you to stand on your head for five minutes."

"That's it?"

"You don't have to do it, that's just an example." Shikamaru told her. "We don't force our friends to do things they don't want to do, and we don't force our friends to tell things they don't want to. That's the key to friendly Truth or Dare."

Azimora rolled her eyes. "But that's no fun!"

A gentle laugh hit their ears announcing the arrival of Temari.

"Believe me; last time we played friendly Truth or Dare, we had a blast." Temari told her, leaning against a wall. "We got Neji to braid his hair. Wasn't that a spectacle?"

Shikamaru chuckled. "What else did we get out of our friends to do?" Shikamaru paused in thought. "We got Sakura to stand on her head for five minutes, and she nearly passed out."

"We got to see Hinata turn into a ball!" Temari laughed.

"YES!" Shikamaru laughed, high fiving Temari.

"Do you guys like...like each other?" Azimora asked suddenly.

Temari and Shikamaru looked at Azimora as if she was crazy.

"HAH!" Temari laughed. "Shikamaru's too lazy to get out of bed, let alone have a relationship with someone. Of course I don't like him!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Lazy, eh? You're the crazy one then." Shikamaru ducked Temari's fist and booked it into the living room.

"GET BACK HERE!" Temari cried chasing Shikamaru into the living room.

Azimora smirked to herself.

_Like peaches and cream. They fight like an old married couple._

* * *

Sasuke sat in the basement of the house. He would do anything to get away from Azimora. She was crazy with a capital C.

**Nah, crazy isn't the word.** His conscience kicked in.

_What IS a good word to describe her...?_

"Hey, Sasuke...What are you doing down here?" Sakura appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Trying to keep myself sane." Sasuke replied.

Sakura sat down beside Sasuke. "So...is it working?"

"What's a word that describes Azimora?" Sasuke asked.

"Negatively?" Sakura asked raising her eyebrow.

"Yes."

Sakura smiled. "Crazy?"

"Nah, the only crazy person is Temari."

"That's not nice." Sakura frowned.

"You know it's true."

Sakura continued to think. "Unorthodox?"

"She's definitely that..." Sasuke muttered. "But I want a stronger word..."

"Out of her mind?"

"Nah, that's Neji most of the time..."

Sakura giggled.

"She's...antagonistic." Sasuke nodded in satisfaction.

Sakura laughed. "I like it. Azimora the Antagonist."

"Naruto the Nincompoop..." Sasuke added, spawning the series of nicknames that ended with a word that the person's name started with.

"Temari the Twisted." Sakura laughed.

"I like where this is going..." Sasuke laughed.

**A/N: Sorry I cut the Sakura Sasuke part...I ran out of words! I tried a dictionary, but there's so many words! Bet you didn't know this, but Nincompoop is actually a word. I saw it in a dictionary a long time ago...**

**How do you like the way I do my inners? I don't have a person having a full-fledged conversation with themselves. I believe that your inner is the first thought that comes to your mind. When someone asks you a question, the first thing that comes to your mind is your inner speaking to you. For example, you see some person walking down the street and the first thing that comes to your mind is: Wow, they're fat... Then your real self kicks in and says: No, they're not that fat... Do you get it?**

**(1)I say that Sasuke's name has two and a half syllables because the 'su' part is mashed up with the first syllable. It's just my bizarre way of thinking.**

**(2)That's one of my words: Schmuck. I usually use it to substitute a swear word, usually *ahem* the shi...you know the rest. So upon dropping a textbook in the middle of the classroom I don't say "crap" and god forbid shi...:)...So then I'm suddenly like "Schmuck." But in the case of the group backing out of the way to avoid being schmucked, pretty easy to figure out. Try saying Schmuck by the way. The first time I used it out loud, people laughed at me of all things. My teacher even said it was cute! XD**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	24. Chapter 24: Kiba

**A/N: I'm hoping to get one more chapter in before that freaking storm hits... ENJOY!**

Chapter 24: Kiba

Roughly one week has passed since Neji was hospitalized. Neji was recovering smoothly, and quickly.

He opened his eyes and looked at the blurry shape that had just come through the door. He tried to focus his eyes, but his brain was working too slowly for his liking.

"Neji, we're going to move you." The person said. His subconscious registered that the person was his doctor, but it took him awhile to process the doctor's words.

"All right..." He murmured, his voice slurred and unfamiliar to him. Neji closed his eyes again and felt his bed moving.

_Why can't I think...?_ Neji thought with great difficulty

Then it hit him.

It's the morphine.

_God!_ Neji cursed to himself.

"Will you take me off these freaking painkillers?" Neji groaned.

Neji knew the doctor was looking at him like he was insane.

"I can't think straight, and I hate it." Neji explained. "Not only that, but I'm tired all the time. I feel like my life is slowly wasting away. If I'm going to be in the hospital, I may as well remember it."

He heard the doctor chuckle.

"Seriously...I'm going insane here..." Neji began to drift away again.

_FUCK NO!_ Neji screamed to himself. _I'm SICK of falling asleep! I don't want to sleep! Every time this happens, it feels like I got shot again!_

Neji forced his eyes open. _No! I still keep drifting away!_

"I don't want to fall asleep." Neji groaned. "I feel like I'm uncontrollably falling unconscious. It's just like the time I got shot. I can't stand it!"

The doctor laughed again. "You want to be off painkillers that badly? You'll be in a lot of pain."

Neji looked at the slightly blurry figure. "Sir, I played rugby in High School, I've broken my ankle, and I've dislocated my elbow. I can take pain."

The doctor chuckled again. "I hope you know what you're getting into. It might take awhile for it to wear off."

"Thank god..." Neji sighed, feeling the IV needle disappear from his wrist. He drifted off with peace of mind.

* * *

_Neji was crying._

"_Why? Why did this have to happen?" He sobbed. "Father, why did you have to die?"_

Neji's eyes snapped open.

"W-Why?" a child's sob came from his right.

Neji turned his head and looked at the curtain that separated him from the other bed in the room.

"Hey..." Neji murmured. "Kid, what happened?"

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" The kid screeched.

Neji flinched, a sharp pain stabbing into his back. Neji's eye twitched at the pain, but it was bearable.

"Fine, be miserable." Neji muttered to the kid.

The kid continued to cry.

Neji drifted off into sleep again.

* * *

Neji's eyes opened again as the door opened. A nurse strolled in and walked behind the curtain.

"How are you doing, Kiba?" The nurse asked sweetly.

"Go away!" The kid spat.

Neji heard the nurse sigh. She appeared from around the curtain and walked to Neji.

"Was he crying last night?" The nurse asked him.

"Yeah," Neji replied. "What happened?"

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" the kid screeched yet again.

"It's my business if I'm going to be sleeping in a room with a kid who cries all night." Neji spat back.

Neji heard a rattle, and a cry of pain.

"KIBA!" The nurse cried, running behind the curtain again. Neji turned his head as the curtain moved near his head. A puffy eyed boy with wild brown hair, no older than eight appeared in the gap.

"YOU SHUT UP! MY FATHER IS DEAD!" the boy cried.

"Still got your mom?"

"NO! SHE DIED OF CANCER TWO YEARS AGO!" the boy cried.

Neji nodded. "My father's dead too. I never knew my mother."

The boy stared at Neji.

"My father was shot dead on the street. A group of people who have it in for my uncle mistook my father for my uncle and shot him." Neji pointed to the side of his head. "One bullet, right here, and my father was no more." Neji broke into a sudden coughing fit. He keeled over in his bed as his chest flared with pain and he continued to cough.

When Neji's coughing fit ceased, the nurse was looking at him with concern, and the boy still had his eyes on him. Neji looked at the hand he had been coughing into, and noticed a pool of blood in his hand. The boy's eyes widened at the sight of it.

Neji showed the blood to the nurse. "Is this okay?" He asked.

"Hang on; I'll get your doctor..." The nurse bustled out the door.

"D-Do you got cancer mister?" The boy asked.

Neji smiled at him. "No. I got shot three times in the chest."

Neji's doctor came in.

"How are you Neji?" he asked.

"Is it all right that I coughed up blood?" Neji asked, showing the doctor the blood in his hand.

"That might happen from time to time. Just as long as you're not constantly coughing, it's fine."

Neji nodded. The doctor handed Neji a towel to wipe his hand on. Neji then squirted hand sanitizer on his hand.

"And you, Mr. Kiba, should be in your bed." The doctor looked at the boy. Neji watched as he disappeared. Neji heard the sound of metal creaking as the boy got back on his bed.

"Hey, doc. When can I get out of this bed?" Neji asked his doctor as he put his hand on the doorknob.

The doctor chuckled. "Soon, hopefully," then the doctor was gone.

"Hey, kid, why are you stuck here?" Neji asked the boy through the curtain.

"I got in a car crash...My father died..." The boy replied.

"I'm sorry." Neji told him.

"But I got a percussion!" The boy said proudly. (1)

Neji had to think for a moment. "A percussion? Don't you mean concussion?"

"Yeah! Percussion!"

Neji chuckled. "You know, getting a percussion is serious." Neji only used the word 'percussion' to play along with it.

"I'm okay now, though! I had an awful headache for so long! Have you ever had a percussion, mister?"

"Twice actually."

"Wow...How did that happen?"

"Well, the first time I got slammed on the rugby court and fell flat on my back and cracked my head off the ground. The second time was when I fell out of a tree."

"Owie..."

"Why do you think I quit rugby?"

"What's rugby mister?"

"Have you heard of football?"

"Yes! I watched it all the time..." He trailed off. "My daddy liked it..."

"Imagine football players."

"Uh huh..."

"Now imagine them without all the padding."

"Okay."

"Now imagine them on a soccer field instead."

"Yeah."

"Imagine playing football like that. That's rugby."

"So, you mean, football with no padding?"

"Exactly."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

Neji chuckled. "Very dangerous."

"Then why did you play it?"

"I have no idea to tell you the truth."

"Hey, mister, do you like Star Wars?"

Neji chuckled. "I don't hate it, and it's not a bad concept."

"When I saw the third episode, I couldn't believe that Anakin joined the Dark Side."

Neji chuckled. "That really ticked me off too."

"You know who you remind me of?"

"Who?"

"You make me think of Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Do I now? Why is that?"

"You talk like him!"

Neji chuckled. "Oh really?"

"See? You did it again! Obi-Wan always questions Anakin's logic!"

"I'm not questioning you."

"You still sound like him."

Neji chuckled again.

"Everyone always told me that they reminded them of Anakin."

"I can see why."

"Hey mister,"

"Stop with the mister thing. My name is Neji."

"Oh...My name's Kiba!"

"Yes, I figured that. It's nice to meet you Kiba."

**A/N: Yay! I got Kiba in the story! Just like Ino was, Kiba isn't quite the same as he is in the actual anime. Ino was quite a few years older, and Kiba is quite a few years younger. I portrayed Ino to be in her late twenties, and Kiba is about eight years old in this story. Kiba will most likely have a large role in this story, so Kiba fans, REJOICE!**

**(1)I got the 'percussion = concussion' thing from my Music teacher. Since day 1, he's called the percussion section (drums, ect.) concussion. So I just reversed it just for a laugh. Mr. Brydges, your jokes are just too casual to pass up. He's so hopeless; he claims he's related to London Bridges, and Golden Gate Bridges. (Get it? Brydges, Bridges? Yeah see? Hopeless).**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	25. Chapter 25: Daycare

**A/N: I hope you're happy about my sudden urge to write... ENJOY!**

Chapter 25: Daycare

Yet another week passed since Neji had been hospitalized. Since that day Neji met Kiba, Neji had met Azimora, officially dubbed Kiba his adopted brother, kidnapped Itachi's acoustic guitar, and took a full week of lessons from Itachi and Shikamaru as they taught him major and minor scales and chords.

"Your adopted brother?" Tenten raised an eyebrow at Kiba sitting beside Neji on his bed reading a Star Wars book with him.

"He's my nii-san!" Kiba said proudly with a grin.

Neji continued reading the Star Wars picture book with Kiba.

"Anakin had saved Padmé yet again from the forces of evil." Neji finished finally.

"Padmé is just as bad as Princess Zelda if you ask me." Itachi muttered.

"No," Neji told him. "Princess Zelda is on a whole new level. Padmé has a gun."

"Touché..." Itachi murmured.

"Besides, Padmé is a queen, not a princess." Neji reminded.

"And nii-san is Obi-Wan!" Kiba said happily.

The room burst out laughing.

"Anakin...shut up." Neji told Kiba with an Obi-Wan accent.

After Itachi and Shikamaru taught Neji the way of the acoustic guitar, Neji was playing songs for Kiba almost constantly.

Then Kiba was taken out of Neji's room.

"Why do I have to go? I want to stay with nii-san..." Kiba whined as the nurse took his hand and lead him out.

"You'll see Neji later." The nurse told him.

Now, we are back to the present. Neji sat alone in his room. He never liked kids all that much, but Kiba was different. In fact, he missed Kiba. Kiba may not know the definition of the phrase 'stop talking', but Kiba was good company.

The doctor walked in, interrupting Neji's train of thought.

"I have a request for you." The doctor said. "You've recovered, but you still need to stay in for another little while. So I'm offering you a chance to get out of that bed and do something else."

"What do you need me to do?" Neji asked.

"Are you good with kids?"

Neji snorted. "No, but I put up with them. Why?"

"The hospital has a daycare facility for the children whose parents are too sick to look after them. We have about ten children ages 5 to 10 who won't stop acting up. The nurses have tried and failed to keep them under control."

"All right..."

"Kiba's nurse told me how you managed to tame him in all of about five minutes. Do you think you could give a whole army of kids a try?"

Neji smirked. "Anything is better than sitting here. I'll give it a shot."

And with that, Neji was put in a wheelchair and he made his way to the daycare with a nurse. Neji rolled his wheelchair through the door of the daycare. The kids didn't even look up from their block towers, cars, and action figures. All except one.

"Nii-san!" Kiba cried and jumped onto Neji's lap without hesitation.

Neji grunted in surprise. "Hey Kiba."

"Listen up, kids!" The nurse called.

The kids didn't even twitch. The nurse sighed with frustration.

"They're kids." Neji looked at the nurse. "They're not going to answer to a call of 'listen up'."

"Hey guys!" Kiba called. "My nii-san's here!"

The kids now looked up.

"Hello." Neji said to them.

"Hello..." They responded timidly, and went back to their toys.

"I'll leave you to it then..." The nurse sighed and left the room to Neji.

"Nii-san, nii-san! Let's play Star Wars!" Kiba cried.

Neji chuckled. "If you insist."

"Okay! Your chair is the spaceship!"

Neji smirked.

"Let's go R2!" Kiba cried. "To Naboo! Padmé's in trouble!"

Neji whistled a couple times and began to slowly manoeuvre his wheelchair across the room. The travel went for about five minutes with Kiba, now known as Anakin Skywalker, calling out random orders that made him sound like a legit Anakin Skywalker.

"Well I'll be..." Neji heard a familiar voice say. Neji turned his head and saw Itachi standing in the door looking very surprised.

"I certainly never thought I'd see the day when Neji Hyuuga, THE Neji Hyuuga, look after a group of kids." Tenten laughed.

Kiba jumped off Neji's lap and ran straight to Tenten.

"PADMÉ!" Kiba cried and grabbed her hand and started to drag her towards Neji, who was now laughing his head off.

"W-What?" Tenten cried.

"You're Padmé!" Kiba cried happily.

"Who's Padmé?" Tenten asked.

"We're playing Star Wars." Neji explained. "Padmé is the lead female in the story."

"Ah..." Tenten was then dragged off to a corner.

"Stay there!" Kiba ordered. "I'm going to rescue you!"

"Can I hinder you?" Itachi asked with a laugh, stepping in front of Tenten. "I'll be Darth Maul or whatever the heck it is."

Neji chuckled. "You have to lose."

Itachi grinned. "I know."

Kiba jumped on Neji's lap again. "To Coruscant!" He cried.

Neji chuckled. "That's going to take a few minutes." Neji replied.

"You're R2-D2! You can't talk!" Kiba cried.

Neji's friends laughed.

Neji put on his Obi-Wan voice again. "Anakin, R2-D2 was left behind for repairs on Naboo." Neji wheeled his wheelchair. "We're on our own out here."

"I'll take the wheel!" Kiba stood up on Neji's lap and jumped onto the ground to push the wheelchair.

Neji gripped one of the wheels so it couldn't turn. "Anakin, there seems to be a malfunction with the left forward thrusters." Neji called as the wheelchair did full circles on the spot.

Neji's friends howled with laughter.

Kiba let go of the push handles, and went to the left side of the wheelchair.

"Neji let go of the wheel." Kiba muttered.

"Who's Neji?" Neji asked in his Obi-Wan voice. "Can you fix the forward thrusters?"

"Master, how do you get rid of a hand?" Kiba asked.

"Take a light sabre to it!" Neji said easily.

Kiba made light sabre noises and tapped Neji's hand with his fist. Neji let go of the wheel.

"LET'S GO!" Kiba called pushing the wheelchair faster than necessary.

"Anakin, not so fast. We're heading into an asteroid belt, and if one hits us, it won't be good!" Neji cried as they wheeled towards a group of children. Neji began grabbing the wheels, causing them to turn when necessary, and they managed to evade the kids.

"How much further, master?" Kiba asked after they got through the 'asteroid belt'.

"Almost there, Anakin. Let me take over." Neji said. Kiba jumped back onto his lap, and Neji manoeuvred the wheelchair about eight feet away from Itachi and Tenten.

"We're arrived on Coruscant." Neji said finally.

"Now I'm going to save Padmé!" Kiba cried jumping off his lap.

"ANAKIN! Not so hasty!" Neji cried with a grin on his face.

Neji watched as Itachi and Kiba made light sabre noises as they fought with invisible light sabres for a long time.

Itachi hopped away. "You're good." Itachi commented. "But, let's see you deal with this." Itachi made wild motions with his arms. Kiba copied, seemingly not taking a single hit.

Kiba made a thrusting motion with his arms. Itachi made his eyes go wide and his jaw drop open. He clapped a hand to his chest and fell to his knees.

"He has... Too much power..." Itachi moaned and fell onto the floor.

Kiba made a final light sabre noise that shows that he put it away, and ran over to Tenten.

"I have rescued you, Padmé." Kiba told her, holding out his hand.

"Thank you." Tenten said taking his hand and standing up. Kiba dragged her over to Neji.

"Get on the ship!" Kiba told her.

Tenten's cheeks flushed as Kiba sat down on Neji's lap. "I'm too big for that, Anakin." Tenten told him.  
"No, you're not! Here I'll get off!" Kiba jumped off. "I'll drive!"

Tenten scratched her head awkwardly.

Neji shrugged at her and shook his head.

_I don't get it either._ He said.

"Come on Padmé!" Kiba cried. "We have to get you home!"

"Just get on before he throws a fit." Neji said still with his Obi-Wan voice.

Tenten laughed despite her awkward situation. "If you insist."

Tenten sat on Neji's knees, her face flushing with embarrassment.

"TO NABOO!" Kiba cried pushing the wheelchair making spaceship sounds.

"Oh this is priceless!" Neji heard Temari laugh.

Sasuke trotted forward and began making shooting noises.

"Anakin, we have trouble." Neji said in a monotone.

"We have to go into light speed!" Kiba cried.

"This isn't the Millennium Falcon!" Neji cried. "Prepare for evasive manoeuvres!"

Kiba jumped onto Neji's armrest, and sat dead behind Tenten as Neji struggled to reach the wheels. Neji grabbed the wheels and began to wheel the wheelchair across the room trying to get away from Sasuke.

"MAN THE GUNS!" Neji cried.

Tenten and Kiba simultaneously turned around in two different directions and began to 'shoot' at Sasuke.

"ARGH!" Sasuke cried and fell to the ground.

"Two more to the front!" Neji cried as Shikamaru and Temari began to meddle with their escape.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!" Kiba cried.

Shikamaru made dodging motions while Temari screeched and fell to the ground.

"Missed!" Shikamaru cried.

Neji reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper Ninja star and passed it to Tenten who threw it with deadly aim.

"GAH!" Shikamaru cried and fell to the ground.

By now, Neji had completed a full circuit of the room and he pulled his wheelchair to a stop.

"We're back on Naboo!" Neji cried.

Kiba jumped off first. "Come, Padmé, we'll return to the castle!"

Tenten slid of Neji's knees and followed Kiba to the side of the room.

"That was fun." Shikamaru said as he picked himself off the ground.

"Anakin, there appears to be a malfunction with the left forward thrusters!" Naruto laughed doing a very bad Obi-Wan imitation.

"Naruto, you fail at the Obi-Wan voice." Neji said, still in his Obi-Wan voice. "May the force be with you." Neji added with a bow.

The group laughed again. Neji felt a tapping on his shoulder. Neji turned his head to see a little girl, no older than Kiba. She held up a book.

"Can you read it with me?" She asked.

Neji smiled. "Sure." He coughed once. "Great now it's going to take me forever to lose the Obi-Wan voice."

Neji pulled the girl onto his lap.

"What's your name?" Neji asked her.

"Yuuki." She replied.

"Hello, Yuuki. My name's Neji."

"Hi Neji-kun..." Yuuki flipped the book open Neji helped her read it over her shoulder. Neji's friends dispersed around the room and played with the kids.

Neji read the book out loud to Yuuki and followed the words with his finger. Neji was only vaguely aware he was reading 'The Princess and the Frog'.

* * *

Once the day was over, Neji got the honour of sleeping in the same room as the group of ten children. His friends had long since gone home.

Neji began to lose count of the number of lullaby's he had been forced to sing because some of the children were scared of the dark. He was woken up by every scream of panic from kids whose nights were full of nightmares.

All in all, the things Neji did for the kids didn't go unnoticed. The children soon fell in love with Neji and wouldn't leave him alone. Tenten laughed at this of course.

"Neji! You could run your own daycare center!" Tenten joked.

"Heck no!" Neji said quietly. "These kids are difficult enough!"

Tenten laughed at him.

"I've lost count of the number of lullaby's I've sung, and the number of times I've read 'The Princess and the Frog', and the number of times I've chased Kiba around pretending to be Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

"You make a good Obi-Wan!" Tenten said with a laugh.

"Obi-Wan, Schmobi-Wan." Neji muttered.

Tenten laughed again.

"Just wait till the day I have to leave." Neji sighed. "These kids will go into a state of depression."

"You could get a job here, you know." Tenten laughed. "Be the caretaker of these kids..."

"I have a band to think about." Neji said with a smirk. "Besides. I'm out of here in a few days."

**A/N: Hey! I could write a Star Wars fan fiction XD. I had so much fun making that Star Wars part. I hope you liked it! Anyway, I'm tired. I hope you're happy with the three chapters I finished today.**

**SEE YOU LATER EH? And REVIEW EH!**

**XD couldn't resist.**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	26. Chapter 26: Homecoming

**A/N: Gomen! *bows repeatedly* School's been a real headache lately, I've had ISU's coming out of my yin-yang, and final exams are rearing their ugly heads at me! Hopefully I can actually update today! Aw, hell... I don't even have any notes for future Fifth Element chapters! TIME TO WING IT!**

Chapter 26: Homecoming

The day Neji got out of white washed walls of Konoha's hospital was the day he was reborn. When he walked out into the sunlight, he stretched his arms out and sighed.

"Hey, Itachi?" Neji said suddenly when he put his arms down.

"What's up?" Itachi looked at Neji.

"Have you caught those bastards yet?"

"I don't know. I haven't been contacted yet."

Neji nodded.

Itachi and Neji didn't have the car to ride home in, and Neji still wasn't in any shape to be engaging in large amounts of physical activity. To make up for it, they were using the public transport. People seemed to be eyeballing them as they sat in the bus seats chatting casually with each other.

"Where's our stop again?" Neji asked suddenly.

"I thought you were keeping track of that." Itachi said.

"You're kidding."

"I am actually."

"You bastard," Neji punched Itachi in the arm.

"Want to play Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Itachi asked suddenly

"Why?"

"Because I'm bored,"

"Fine,"

"**Rock, Paper, Scissors**." Itachi chose scissors, Neji chose scissors.

"**Rock, Paper, Scissors**." Itachi chose paper, Neji chose rock.

"Yes!" Itachi cried.

"**Rock, Paper, Scissors**." Itachi chose rock, Neji chose rock.

"**Rock, Paper, Scissors**." Itachi chose paper, Neji chose scissors.

Neji merely grinned in triumph.

"**Rock, Paper, Scissors**." Itachi chose scissors, Neji chose rock.

"Yes! I won again!"

"You realize we're entertaining ourselves with a kids game right?"

"Yeah,"

"**Rock, Paper, Scissors**."

"DYNAMITE!" Neji cried, putting his thumb up like a stick of dynamite.

"There's no dynamite!" Itachi cried.

"Hah, there is now."

"You always cheat! Why is it that you always cheat?"

"I don't cheat!" Neji cried.

"Yes you do! Remember our staring contest? You blew in my face!"

Neji snorted at Itachi.

"Really?" Itachi said raising an eyebrow. "You want to bring the snorting game back now too?"

Neji snorted again.

Itachi snorted back.

Neji snorted loudly.

Itachi perfectly executed the double snort.

On and on it went.

"Oh schmuck our stop!" Itachi cried, and yanked the bus cord.

"You fail." Neji muttered.

"So do you." Itachi said as he stood up and walked to the front with Neji right behind him. The two got off the bus and began to walk the final three blocks to Tenten's house.

"Remind me of why we're going to Tenten's?" Neji asked.

"Because Tenten's going to drive us home so we can inconspicuously get in the front door."

"You've planned a surprise party haven't you?" Neji looked at Itachi to attempt to read his body language.

"Why would we. You hate parties, Neji." Itachi replied, his face impassive.

"You're lying." Neji said with a smirk.

"How do you know that?"

"You never put up an impassive face unless you have something to hide."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah really." Neji muttered as they walked up the front steps. "And the curtains are closed! Yeah that makes it final. What are you plotting?"

Itachi opened the door. Neji was surprised to see the entire group sitting on the living room couches.

"NEJI!" Everyone cried.

"Hey, guys." Neji said with a confused smile. Neji gave out hugs to everyone, except for Azimora who grabbed Itachi by the arm and dragged him into the basement.

He even gave Tenten a hug.

"Hey, where'd Itachi go?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Azimora dragged him into the basement." Sakura replied, rolling her eyes.

"They just don't get it." Shikamaru added.

"No matter how many times we tell them," Temari shrugged.

"They just don't get that this is a G-rated house." Naruto finished.

Neji laughed regardless of the dull ache in his chest. "Really? I thought with all the friendly violence that goes around it was a PG-rated house."

"They turn PG into PG-13 if you give them the chance." Tenten said with a laugh.

"Then its 14-A." Sasuke continued.

"God forbid it gets any higher than that." Shikamaru put his hand over his face with a sigh.

Nobody laughed. They just glanced around at each other.

"I'm not taking any chances!" Naruto cried and sprinted for the basement door. Hinata, Shikamaru, Temari, Sasuke and Sakura booked it for the door as well.

Tenten and Neji stood in the front doorway staring at the basement door where everyone had disappeared.

"NEJI FREAKING HYUUGA!" Naruto's voice called from the basement.

"GET DOWN HERE!" Shikamaru's voice cut through the air.

"OR WE'LL FIND YOU!" Temari finished.

"Quoting Stride now?" Neji laughed to himself. (1)

"Temari loves Stride gum." Tenten giggled. "Come on. We'd better get down there before they throw a fit."

Neji and Tenten walked into the basement. It was pitch black.

Tenten skipped gracefully to the light switch and flicked it on.

"WELCOME HOME NEJI!" Everyone screamed, and popped confetti poppers in his face.

"What the-" Neji took a few steps back. "Dude you tricked me!" Neji pointed accusingly at everyone.  
"Shikamaru knew you'd figure out we've planned a surprise party for you." Hinata came over with a streamer and threw it over him. "So we put it together in the basement."

"The surprise was that there was no party!" Shikamaru laughed. "But in the basement, is a different story!"

"You got me." Neji stuck his hands into his pockets, and smirked at the group.

"WOOHOO!" Everyone cried.

"Yeah, roll in the victory." Neji muttered. Then he spotted the shenanigan they had set up for him. "Holy freaking sweets!" Neji cried.

The group laughed.

"Tenten made most of them!" Temari said happily.

Neji stared at the cake that read 'WELCOME HOME, NEJI!' in purple icing. In fact, other than the white backdrop of the thing, and the leaves on the sugar flower, the whole damned thing was purple.

"Hinata decorated the cake, didn't she?" Neji asked the group.

Hinata smiled proudly. "How did you know?"

"There's a lot of purple on this cake." Neji replied.

Hinata laughed. "We didn't know what your favourite colour was, so we went with purple."

"If I cut this, is it going to be dyed purple?" Neji asked with a grin.

Hinata laughed. "Nope. It's white cake!"

There were bowls of chips, fruit and veggie plates, pop, candy, Rice Krispie squares, and even brownies.

"Let the party begin!" Itachi cried and immediately hit 'shuffle' on his iPod.

"Hey, Neji." Neji heard Tenten's voice behind him.

"Hey," Neji replied.

"You know, they've been over here pretty much the whole time you've been gone."

"Why?"

"Because they can't feed themselves." Tenten said with a grin.

Neji smirked. "You're right. The only thing they know how to make is instant ramen, and delivery."  
"How do you make delivery?"

"Hit a few buttons, say a few words, sit down and wait." Neji said simply, loading his plate with chips.

Tenten laughed. "So true!" She turned her head towards the dance floor. "You know what they don't know?"

"What don't they know?"

"I have strobe lights." Tenten said with a smirk.

"Really?" Neji laughed.

Tenten walked into a corner for a moment and came out with a box. Neji looked in it.

"Can't install them?"

Tenten shook her head.

"Shika and I will do it. Just get everyone out of here for a few minutes." Neji walked over to Shikamaru and dragged him over to the food table.

"What is it, Neji?" He asked.

"Help me get everyone out of here so we can install Tenten's strobe lights." Neji said with a smirk.

Shikamaru grinned. "Tenten, grab Itachi's iPod and book it. We'll call when we're ready."

"OH, but first where's your tools?" Neji asked.

Tenten pointed to the shelve that held a toolbox.

"All right." Neji said and walked over into the corner. Shikamaru followed with the box.

Tenten walked over to the speaker, and stole Itachi's iPod.

"Hey!" Itachi cried.

Tenten ran. Itachi followed her, along with the rest of the group who failed to notice Neji and Shikamaru sitting in the corner.

Neji grabbed the toolbox and opened it, while Shikamaru tore out the boxes inside a larger box.

"We have a disco ball, and a strobe light." Shikamaru summarized. Then he began playing with a switch that never seemed to do anything in the basement. In about ten seconds, Shikamaru figured out what outlet the switch controlled, and he quickly pointed it out to Neji.

"Sick." Neji laid all the tools out on the coffee table. "You take a strobe light I'll get the disco ball."

Neji grabbed the disco ball and immediately began running through the instructions. He knew time was of the factor here. Neji and Shikamaru worked in two different corners of the room as Neji set up the light that would send the light towards the disco ball, and Shikamaru set up the strobe light on the wall.

"Done." They said at the same time. They had hooked their wires up, and Shikamaru quickly flipped the switch to test it. Both lights came on.

"Perfect. Help me get the ball up." Neji pushed the stool over to the center of the room. Shikamaru began firing out instructions as Neji screwed the ball to the ceiling after making sure the wire reached the outlet. After a few more minutes, the ball was up. Shikamaru flicked off the light and turned on the effects.

"YEAH!" Neji cried as the room lit up in flashes, and disco ball reflections.

"Call Tenten." Shikamaru ordered.

Neji called Tenten.

_Hello?_ Tenten's out of breath voice gasped.

"You can come home now."

_Thank god!_

Neji closed his phone. "When I say, 'flick it,' you turn those epic lights on." Neji ordered.

"Gotcha," Shikamaru chuckled.

A few minutes later, the group came stomping down the stairs looking bitter.

"Yo." Neji said casually.

"You and Shikamaru stayed!" Itachi accused.

"For good reason." Shikamaru laughed. He flicked the light off. "Flick it?" He asked Neji.

"Flick it." Neji confirmed.

The strobe lights came on and Itachi's face lit up with awe. "YES! I've always wanted to dance in strobe lights!" Itachi ran to the center of the room and began doing a wild dance that appeared to be in epic slow motion. The group quickly joined.

"Good job guys." Tenten commented.

"Can we have brownies now?" Shikamaru asked.

"We all deserve a brownie." Neji said with a laugh.

Shikamaru, Neji and Tenten each took a brownie and ate it.

"Best brownie ever." Neji said with a grin after swallowing the first bite and taking another.

The group partied long into the night. By twelve o'clock midnight, the entire group was hyped up on sugar. Neji laughed uncontrollably, Tenten jumped around a lot, Itachi talked more, Azimora couldn't stop moving. Shikamaru had the twitches, Temari kept poking people for no apparent reason, Sasuke kept bursting into song, Sakura was clinging to Sasuke who honestly didn't seem to care. Naruto was twice the hyperactive person he was before the sugar, and Hinata's face was constantly red. She giggled a lot as well.

"Now that we're all hyped up on sugar," Sakura began, tapping her fingertips together. "It's time for horror movies!"

"NO!" Neji and Tenten cried at the same time.

Still, they sat down on the couches to watch the movie. Sakura hit the play button to begin _Saw II._

Tenten covered her eyes at the first scene with the man with the mask, and Jigsaw telling him where the key to his death mask was.

"No! No I don't like this!" Tenten moaned. "I already know what's going to happen!" She screamed when the poor dude died. Tenten looked up at Neji who had a tense mask on his face. Both of his fists were clenched on his lap.

Both of them relaxed at the non-violent scene that followed until the movie took them into the house where everyone was slowly being killed by some kind of gas that was destroying them from the inside out.

"Ugh," Neji groaned when one of the people got his brains blown out. "That's just not right."

On and on the movie went. The group in the movie came across a room where there was a note. Tenten's adrenaline pumped mind could only remember something about a cure, and a second cure that if taken will cost something dear. A guy crawled into a pipe and took both cures; the second one was attached to a chain that shut the door to the thing the guy crawled into.

Tenten saw Neji go stiff beside her as fire appeared on screen.

"Hell no..." Tenten gasped.

Neji tried to endure. Then he caved. "I can't do this, guys." Neji stood up and left the room.

"Me too." Tenten gasped and followed Neji up the stairs.

"Can't stand horror movies." Neji muttered as they sat on the living room couch.

"Neither can I." Tenten sighed. "Especially when someone gets burned to death."

"That's where I draw the line too." Neji replied.

The two sat in silence.

"I came too close to death. I don't want to watch people die anymore." Neji murmured.

Tenten nodded. "I understand that."

"Do you?"

Tenten looked to where Neji's face was. She could just see the outline of his face in the dark.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked.

"I had an out of body experience." Neji murmured. "I felt so light and so free. I knew that all I had to do was go towards that light and I wouldn't have to live with the Hyuuga curse anymore."

Tenten was silent.

"I didn't want to go back, Tenten."

"You're kidding."

Neji shook his head. "The only reason I came back was because my father appeared in front of me and ordered me to go back. He told me I had a life of my own, and friends who cared about me. He told me it wasn't my time yet, and he sent me back. So I went back."

"I'm sorry Neji."

"Don't be sorry." Neji spat. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I would have left you guys if my dad hadn't appeared. My mind was made up."

"Is it really that bad? Your curse?" Tenten asked.

Neji didn't respond. "My dad died in the place of the clan leader, you know." He finally said.

"W-What?"

"Someone had it in for Hiashi. My father was his identical twin. He was shot dead on the street." Neji muttered.

"I can't imagine."

"Don't even try."

Tenten went silent.

"That's what can happen to members of the Hyuuga clan who bear the curse mark. They're forced to do what the clan tells them to do. We're nothing but pawns to them."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Tenten asked.

"I trust you." Neji sighed. "I've never known someone like you. You always seem to be there whenever I need to talk to someone."

Tenten stared at her hands. Neji's arm suddenly went around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest.

"N-Neji?"

"Just stay here." Neji murmured. "I'm not ready for you to go yet."

"Then let me get comfortable! You've twisted my spine!" Tenten growled.

Neji laughed at her, but loosened his grip for a moment. Tenten leaned against him, her spine no longer twisted awkwardly.

Neji's grip tightened again and Tenten suddenly felt a warm hand on her cheek.

"Hold still." Neji murmured.

Tenten gasped as Neji's lips met hers. Her heart pounded in her ear as a fire burned in her stomach. Tenten wanted to cry when Neji pulled away from her after a few seconds. His fingers brushed her cheekbone as Tenten sat in a stunned silence. Eventually, Tenten lifted her hand to Neji's cheek.

Neji sighed and took Tenten's lips again. Tenten was ready for it this time. Their lips moved together as Neji's hand held the back of her head.

Tenten shuddered as the tip of his tongue touched her lips. Her arms went around his neck as she opened her mouth to him. Tenten brushed his tongue with hers, smiling in satisfaction as he let out a sigh.

"Neji, Tenten, the movies over." Sakura cried from the top of the basement stares.

"How about another horror movie so we can stay here longer?" Neji murmured to Tenten with a smirk.

"Hey, where are you?" Sakura called.

The two separated instantly as they heard Sakura's footsteps approaching.

Tenten stood up as if nothing happened. "Movie's over? Great. I'm tired."

Sakura's footsteps retreated again.

Tenten felt a pair of arms grab her from behind.

"No, down boy." Tenten said with a smirk. "I'm tired."

Neji chuckled and kissed her cheek, and then disappeared into the basement as Tenten walked up the stairs.

**A/N: Do you forgive me now? I gave you a Neji Tenten moment, and believe me, that was long for my standards. . it was chaos trying to write it. I couldn't decide what was overkill and what wasn't enough. This is why romance scenes kill me. In comedy, there is only under kill. I always seem to hit 'average' and overkill in comedy stories.**

**I still hope you forgive me for my long absence!**

**REVIEW ME!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**

**(1)I don't know about anywhere else, but in Canada, the stride commercials always start with a guy chewing gum and then somehow they attack him in a bizarre way (one way involved getting butted by a goat) so he spits out his gum. Then this big title appears on the screen that says "SPIT OUT THAT STRIDE GUM AND CHEW ANOTHER PIECE ALREADY! OR WE'LL FIND YOU!"**


	27. Chapter 27: Disapproval

**A/N: PRAISE BE TO MY READERS! You guys have stuck around so freaking long, I know I'm doing something right! It might be the comedy only, but you guys are still great! I love reading your reviews, (they always find a way to make me grin, smile or sometimes laugh) and I'm sad to say that this story is approaching its climax... Don't panic yet, because we still have a few more chapters to get through, including this one!**

Chapter 27: Disapproval

The sun filtered through Tenten's bedroom window. As she opened her eyes, she remembered the events of the night before. Neji came home and they had a party. They watched a horror movie in which both her and Neji left the room. Then, Neji had kissed her. THE Neji Hyuuga of The Fifth Element had kissed her.

Tenten crawled out of bed and quickly got dressed.

Downstairs, Neji was making his way into the kitchen. He turned when Tenten strolled in.

"Good morning," he greeted.

"M-Morning," Tenten murmured in reply. "What are we making?"

Neji began digging through Tenten's cupboards. "Do you have fresh blueberries?"

"No, sorry," Tenten sighed. "I could run up and get some if you want, though."

"I definitely want to eat blueberry pancakes today." Neji laughed.

Tenten opened the fridge and began to look through it. "Oh, hang on... I DO have blueberries!" Tenten pulled out the half-empty package. They weren't fresh, but they weren't rotten either.

Neji reached in, pulled one out and ate it.

"Still good," He said. He took the basket, and proceeded to cut the blueberries up into smaller chunks.

"Need help?" Tenten asked.

"Would be nice," Neji replied and shifted over slightly.

Tenten took the place beside him.

"Just cut them in half, and then in half again." Neji told her, and passed her a knife.

Tenten took the knife and began to cut the blueberries the way Neji told her to. Tenten's heart pounded as she stood beside Neji. For a moment, she looked over at what he was doing, and did a double take.

"Neji are you left handed?" Tenten asked suddenly.

"Hm?" Neji looked down at his hands and realized he was holding the knife in his left hand. "I have a habit of doing that sometimes. When I write or pick something up I use my right hand, but for some reason I use my left hand when drawing, cooking or painting. I can't explain it."

Tenten laughed at him. "You're left hand is your art hand."

Neji grinned at her. "Maybe so," he said.

When they finally finished cutting the blueberries, Tenten pulled out all the necessary ingredients for buttermilk pancakes.

Tenten watched the pancake master at work from over his shoulder. He mixed the flour with the milk and eggs like the freaking prodigy he was. Tenten tore her eyes away from him and pulled out her griddle. She cringed at the mess that it was.

"There is no way I'm cooking on that."

Tenten looked up at Neji. Neji was grinning at her.

"Do you even know how to clean that thing?" Neji asked.

"I don't make pancakes. You can see why." Tenten said with a shrug and put the griddle on the counter.

"Why, because it's dirty?"

"No, all that is pancake residue." Tenten said simply. "I burn the things every time."

Neji grabbed the griddle and proceeded to clean the thing off. It took him about five minutes, but when he was done, the thing gleamed.

"Wha... How did you do that?" Tenten asked.

Neji was now rotating the griddle in his hands. "How many watts is this?"

"Uh, I have no idea."

Neji continued to turn the thing.

"Why?" Tenten asked.

"Because I need to know how powerful this thing is so I know how long the pancakes need to stay on for." Neji replied. He set the griddle down.

"Did you find out?" Tenten asked.

Neji nodded and plugged it in. He turned the temperature dial to the appropriate temperature.

"You do this all in your head don't you?" Tenten asked.

"Yes I do." Neji said simply and pulled out Tenten's spatula.

Once Neji began to flip the pancakes, the kitchen slowly filled up.

Hinata was the first to arrive.

"Good morning!" She said with her signature sweet smile that was sweet enough to give your eyes cavities if you stared too long.

"Yet another reason why I'm so glad you're back, Neji." Naruto said as he strolled in with Sasuke trailing behind him. "Your pancakes."

Neji chuckled.

Sakura filed into the room and Sasuke immediately looked at her as if waiting for something. Sakura lifted her head just enough to catch sight of Sasuke.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun..." Sakura murmured.

Tenten saw Sasuke bite his tongue as he chose not to answer.

"Are you ignoring me, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura whined. She began to smack Sasuke playfully on the head. "Why are you ignoring me, Sasuke-kun?"

"Good morning Sakura." Sasuke said finally.

"YAY!" Sakura wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck. "Good morning Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke sighed, but proceeded to ignore Sakura's morning clinginess. She snapped out of it after five minutes, and as usual, jumped away from Sasuke, her face turning as pink as her hair.

Shikamaru and Temari entered the room at exactly the same time.

"Morning," They said simultaneously. The two stared at each other.

"JYNX!" They cried. They continued their stare down.

"DOUBLE JYNX!" They cried.

"Oh my gosh, they share a brain." Neji said in a perfect awestruck voice.

"SAYS YOU, OBI-WAN!" They cried at the same time. They stared at each other again.

"Actually, you may have a point..." They said at the same time again. Then their eyes went wide.

"DUDE THIS IS SCARY!" They cried.

The entire room began to laugh.

Neji placed the plate of pancakes on the table. "Wait a minute..." He murmured. "Where's Itachi and Azimora?"

The group looked around at each other.

"Still in bed..." Sasuke said faintly.

"Get me the video camera, and the air horn." Neji ordered.

Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru's eyes lit up.

"Dude, you're genius." Shikamaru said with a grin.

Naruto dashed down into the basement and came back up with the video camera and an 'emergency air horn'.

"Need an introduction, Neji?" Naruto asked, handing Neji the air horn.

"Yes." Neji said.

Naruto hit record on the video camera. "Action!" He cried.

"Itachi has a girlfriend now." Neji began. "And they haven't come down for breakfast yet. We don't know why, but they should have woken up upon smelling the pancakes they love oh so much."

Naruto zoomed in on the plate of pancakes, then turned back to Neji.

"So now, I'm going to take this air horn, and scare the tar out of them." Neji then turned the air horn on its side and began reading off the warning label.

"It says nothing here about using the air horn for pranks." Neji said simply. "Let's go."

The group began to trek up the stairs. Sasuke ran ahead and opened the door to Itachi's room. Naruto zoomed the camera on Itachi and Azimora.

"As you can see," Neji whispered. "They're sleeping oh so peacefully in each other's arms." Neji grinned at the camera. "Not for long."

Neji turned and put his head into the room and proceeded to whistle annoyingly. When the two began to stir, Neji raised the air horn, and jammed his finger onto the button.

_**BREEEEEEEEEEE!**_ The air horn sounded.

Itachi and Azimora jumped up into sitting positions, Itachi shirtless, and Azimora in a nightgown.

Neji stopped honking the horn and began to laugh.

"NEJI!" Itachi cried, and jumped out of his bed.

Neji turned and ran, honking the horn every few steps to taunt him while laughing the whole way. Naruto ran after them with the video camera, the rest of the group in tow. Azimora was following the whole group, looking bitter.

Neji dashed out onto the balcony before proceeding to run down the stairs into the backyard. Itachi jumped the railing and proceeded to try to catch Neji.

"I'm going to kill you this time, Neji!" Itachi growled.

"I'm so sc-" Neji dropped to the ground and began to cough.

"Neji?" Itachi forgot about his payback vow and ran to his friends' side. "Neji, are you okay?"

The rest of the group arrived on the lawn and gathered around Neji.

Neji's hand went to his throat as he continued to gasp.

"Can't-" Neji gasped. "Breathe..."

"Oh god," Itachi put Neji's arm around his shoulder and began to drag him into the house. "Hell, I should've known better than to chase you." Itachi said guiltily as he put Neji on the couch.

"Should I call 911?" Tenten asked.

Neji shook his head. He had put his hand down, but he was still breathing heavily as if he had run a mile instead of down two flights of stairs and a loop of the backyard.

"You might have a breathing problem, Neji." Sakura told him.

"No, really?" Neji gasped. "The doctor...did tell me...not to get...too active...for a...little while..." Neji gasped. "Besides, I was shot three times..." Neji sighed. "What do you expect..."

After a few more minutes, Neji was able to breathe properly and finally stood up to eat those pancakes he made.

Itachi and Azimora went upstairs to get dressed while they warmed the pancakes up in the microwave.

The pancakes were being dished out when Itachi and Azimora took their seats.

A cell phone went off. Hinata began to fumble for a moment, then flipped her white and lilac coloured phone open.

"Hello?" She asked.

Neji watched her face fall slightly.

"Yeah, sure..." Hinata murmured. Then she held the phone towards Neji.

Neji stared at the phone for a moment. "Who is it?"

"It's Hiashi." Hinata said calmly.

Tenten shot him a look.

Neji took the phone and walked through the living room and onto the balcony.

"Hello?" Neji said when he shut the sliding door.

_Hello, Neji. _Hiashi's voice said in his formal tone. Neji knew he was in for something when he heard that tone.

"What is it Hiashi-sama?" Neji asked, regretfully putting the 'sama' on Hiashi's name.

_Are you busy right now?_

"I'm eating breakfast." Neji replied.

_I wish to talk to you in person. Can you come over once you've finished?_

Neji stared at the grass on the yard below him. "Sure." He finally said. He knew he wouldn't have a choice in it either way.

_Thank you. Good-bye._

Neji only took a moment to mutter a 'bye' before snapping the phone shut. Neji stood on the balcony for a few seconds thinking about all the different reasons why Hiashi would want to consult him.

Neji turned and walked back into the house. Hinata was there immediately. She grabbed Neji by the arm and dragged him back outside and shut the door.

"What did he want?" Hinata asked as Neji returned the phone.

"He wants to speak to me in person." Neji told her.

Hinata nodded. "Be careful..." She told him softly.

The two walked back into the house.

"You don't have a cell phone anymore, do you?" Itachi asked when they walked back in.

Neji shook his head.

"We'll have to get you one then." Itachi muttered.

Neji finished his pancakes without even tasting them. He put his dish in the sink and washed his hands off.

"Oh I almost forgot!" Itachi said. "Neji, I got a call before you got out of the hospital. We're having another concert this weekend."

"Sweet!" Neji said with a grin. "Saturday?"

"Yeah. We're playing at the football field again." Itachi said.

Something hit Neji at that moment.

What if Hiashi wants to cancel the band again? Neji pushed the thought away.

"We'll be there." Neji said almost as if to confirm it for himself. He walked towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked.

"I've got to meet with my uncle for a moment." Neji saw the look on Tenten's face. "I'll be back." He said while he stared into her brown eyes. Neji turned and walked out the door.

* * *

Neji walked to the Hyuuga household with his back straight, and his head held high.

He put his hand on the knob, turned it and walked in.

"Hello?" Neji called.

"Up here, Neji." Hiashi called. Neji looked at the top of the staircase, and sure enough, there was Hiashi Hyuuga, still in his housecoat.

Neji walked up the stairs, an unwelcome feeling of nostalgia creeping over him. He had climbed these stairs countless times as a boy, and when he had abandoned the house he hoped he'd never set foot in it again.  
Neji followed Hiashi into his study. Hiashi sat down in his large backed chair and looked at Neji.

"I'm glad you're out of the hospital, Neji." Hiashi told him.

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama." Neji told him with a slight bow, even though he really wanted to say: _What do you want with me, you son of a gun?_

"Do you know the reasons behind why you were shot?" Hiashi asked.

Neji knew exactly why he had been shot, but he wasn't about to be admitting the real reason as to why he was shot.

"I don't know, sir." Neji lied.

"I heard something about a rival band known as Black Death. Do you know of them?" Hiashi asked.

"I-I do Hiashi-sama..." Neji said faintly. That was it. He knew he was screwed.

"They were the ones who shot you, correct?"

"Y-Yes Hiashi-sama..." Neji couldn't see any point in lying anymore.

Hiashi sighed.

Neji stared at the floor. A rock was forming in the pit of his stomach, and it was slowly rising up his throat.

"Do you still believe it's a good idea for me to let you continue with that band of yours?" Hiashi asked.

Neji was silent. The lump was rising in his throat.

"Hiashi-sama, that band means more to me than you think." Neji murmured faintly.

"Do you value that band more than your life?" Hiashi asked.

Neji looked up at Hiashi and locked eyes with him.

"That band IS my life." Neji said, every word being the truth. He hoped Hiashi would get it.

"Neji," Hiashi sighed. Then he ran his hand down his face. "When your father died, his will stated that he left you in my care. I will not turn my back on my own brother and let you risk your life playing in that band!"

Neji's hands trembled.

"You're done, Neji." Hiashi said simply. "And if I have to lock you in this house, I will. You will go to college and get a proper job. You will marry, and have a family like every other member of this clan. Do you understand me?"

Neji stared at Hiashi. "Yes." He growled. "I understand." He continued to stare down Hiashi.

_I understand but that doesn't mean I'm going to do it._ He thought.

Hiashi stared back at Neji. "You will live here."

"No." Neji said bluntly.

Hiashi's eyes flashed. "What did you say?"

"No." Neji said again, this time louder. "I refuse to stay in this house!"

Hiashi stood up. "Don't you defy me, Neji!"

Neji turned and ran out of the study. He only took two steps before he fell to the ground writhing in pain. He had never felt such pain before. It was nothing like waking up with no painkillers, and it was nothing like the headache he had after getting that concussion while playing rugby. It felt like his head was going to explode. In fact, he wished it would so he wouldn't have to live with the agony anymore.

"You will live here Neji Hyuuga!" Hiashi's angry voice echoed through his pain-fogged mind as if it were a concrete cave.

"All right! All right!" Neji cried, clutching his head. "Just stop it!" He begged.

"You will not be a part of that band any longer!"

"I have to!" Neji cried. "We have a conc-" Neji screamed as he was hit with a more powerful wave of pain.

"You're done with that band, Neji!" Hiashi's voice yelled.

"Okay!" Neji sobbed. "Please just stop!"

"Go to your room!" Hiashi ordered.

Fighting the pain, Neji stood up quickly, and ran to the room that had been his throughout his childhood. He never thought it would be his again. Once he was inside, the pain subsided, and Neji collapsed to the floor and immediately did something he hadn't done since the day his father died. He full out cried until he fell asleep.

**A/N: Here it goes. The final sequence of events begin. **


	28. Chapter 28: Darkness

**A/N: Let's continue our slow trudge towards the climax. Read the title... Guess what this chapter's about?**

Chapter 28: Darkness

Tenten paced endlessly through her basement. Hinata was staring warily at the wall.

"Will you stop pacing, Tenten?" Temari groaned. "It's getting on my nerves.

"I can't!" Tenten cried, her voice rising to a pitch she never spoke at. "I can't shake the feeling that Neji's not coming back!"

"He's just gone to see his uncle, Tenten." Sakura told her.

"You don't understand!" Tenten cried. Then she stopped herself. Would she really break Neji's trust and tell them everything? No, she couldn't do that.

"What is it Tenten?" Itachi asked her.

Tenten shook her head. "Forget I said anything."

Hinata suddenly met her eyes.

_You know, don't you?_ Her intelligent silver eyes asked her.

Tenten nodded once. Hinata looked away.

* * *

Back at the Hyuuga household, Neji was waking up on the floor. He gazed numbly around the room. He couldn't bring himself to care about the fact he was on the floor, or the fact that he probably looked like a real mess. Neji knew this feeling. He had felt it after his father died. He had sunk back into the darkness, and he felt completely helpless.

"It's all black..." Neji murmured, staring at the white walls of his room. "Everything's black..." Then he sighed. "And there's no going back..."

Neji rolled so he was lying on his back and stared at the ceiling. Neji began retracing the steps he took when he began to pull himself from the darkness for the first time. He recalled the first time he saw light in his dark world. It was the moon. He had to find a moon.

But he couldn't find one.

"Shadows spread like an endless blanket on a, dark night, without any light..." Neji gazed at the ceiling as he went over the words he just murmured. After a few seconds of thought, he put a melody to it.

_Shadows spread like an endless blanket on a_

_Dark night, without any light..._

Neji continued to sing the phrase as if waiting for inspiration. He smiled as it hit him.

_And the world goes on,_

_As if nothing was wrong,_

Neji immediately sat up and began hunting for paper. He quickly scribbled the words down.

_Shadows spread like an endless blanket on a_

_Dark night, without any light._

_And the world goes on,_

_As if nothing was wrong..._ Neji trailed off for a moment, chewing the end of his pen.

He stared at the sheet, murmuring the words over and over again, racking his brain for anything. He snuck a glance out his window as if to search for inspiration. He saw people walking down the street, children playing with a ball in their yard, and the sun shining down on the entire scene.

Neji ran back to his desk.

_But in reality,_

_The sun doesn't shine on me..._ Neji held the last note and debated about writing a pre chorus. "I'm lost, in a world of darkness?" Neji frowned. If he could make it work, he would. Then it hit him.

'_Cause I'm lost, _Neji smiled as the perfect spot to put harmony appeared before him.

"Neji!" Hiashi's voice came through Neji's door. "What are you doing in there?"

_As monsters rise out of my world _

_You're just like frost, you won't get lost_

_Goddamn it, get the hell out of my face._

Neji didn't even bother putting a melody to those words. He didn't even try to rhyme it. All he knew was that was how he felt at that moment.

_Just leave me in peace,_

_You're a wolf in sheep's fleece,_

_My life's in ruins,_

_I don't even feel human,_

"Neji? What are you doing in there?" Hiashi's voice was now tense. Neji smirked as he realized he had been murmuring the words the whole time.

_I hate you so much,_

_I don't even need a clutch,_(1)

"Neji! What the hell are you saying?"

Neji grinned to himself. His song was no longer a song. It was a full-fledged rap. Neji was too lazy at the moment to throw in a melody, so he just said the first words that came to mind.

He grinned as a Queen's _Don't Stop me Now_ came to his mind. Neji bobbed his head as he sang the upbeat song to himself.

_I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies  
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity  
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva  
I'm gonna go go go  
There's no stopping me_

_I'm burning through the skies Yeah!  
Two hundred degrees  
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit  
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light_

"Neji, that's enough." Hiashi's voice ordered.

Neji had his fun. He was actually smiling.

_The moon's come back out, _Neji realized.

It was the band. No, it was music in general that made Neji's life whole. Without music, Neji was nothing.

And with that conclusion, Neji began to sing _Eleanor Rigby _by The Beatles.

_Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been_

_Lives in a dream_

_Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door_

_Who is it for?_

_All the lonely people_

_Where do they all come from?_

_All the lonely people_

_Where do they all belong?_

"Neji that's enough!" Hiashi said, opening Neji's door and staring at his nephew. Neji's normally neat hair was a mess, and his silver eyes were puffy and red. But the thing that scared him the most was the way Neji's eyes danced as he tapped his foot and sang the lyrics to a song that was vaguely familiar to him.

_Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear_

_No one comes near,_

_Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there_

_What does he care?_

_All the lonely people_

_Where do they all come from?_

_All the lonely people_

_Where do they all belong?_

_Ahh, look at all the lonely people_

_Ahh look at all the lonely people_

_Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name_

_Nobody came_

_Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave_

_No one was saved_

_All the lonely people_

_Where do they all come from?_

_All the lonely people_

_Where do they all belong?_

Hiashi didn't know what to do.

"_The band made Neji change!" Hinata told him. "Before he formed that band with his friends, never once have I seen him smile..." Hinata wiped her face. "Now, he smiles and laughs all the time..."_

Hiashi walked out of Neji's room and locked the door. He heard Neji singing a different song as he walked away from it. The phrase 'you can take the animal out of the wild, but you can't take the wild out of the animal' sprang to his mind.

_You can take the boy from the music, but you can't take the music from the boy._ Hiashi thought to himself. However, that wouldn't stop him from trying.

* * *

It only took twenty-four hours for Neji to sink back into his dark world. He lay on the floor on what he guessed was a Friday night. The only thing he kept thinking about was the concert that would be taking place the next day.

There was a knock on his door and the door opened. Neji didn't even look over.

"Neji?" Hanabi's voice murmured. "Why are you on the floor?"

Neji didn't bother answering.

"I brought you dinner."

Neji heard the sound of a tray being set down. He didn't care. He continued staring at the ceiling.

Eventually, Neji heard the sound of Hanabi's footsteps retreating and the sound of his door closing and locking again.

The smell of the food eventually met his nose. He immediately rolled over onto his side and covered his face. He didn't want to eat. Heck, he was so depressed he didn't even want to sing. He didn't even want to think. All he wanted to do was fall asleep and stay asleep so he couldn't feel the pain anymore.

Neji's eyes eventually closed as he finally drifted into sleep.

**A/N: Depressed yet? This chapter was shorter than it usually is. I'll hopefully get the next one out by the end of tonight!**

**(1)The clutch I'm referring to is the clutch that gets a standard vehicle to move. You know, you press down the clutch, you give it gas, and the car moves forward. I basically meant he doesn't need a clutch to get his hate moving, because it's automatic.**


	29. Chapter 29: Unstoppable

**A/N: Who's been watching the Fifa World Cup in South Africa lately? I just watched some today, just so I could hear the vuvuzelas. They really do sound like an amplified version of a National Geographic special on Killer Bees! XD. It's beautiful! Haha...I want a vuvuzela just so I can blow it on the last day of school, or just to in general annoy people :).**

Chapter 29: Unstoppable

"Oh man...where the hell are you Neji?" Shikamaru groaned. "Why hasn't he come back yet?"

It was now Saturday. Officially, it was the third day that passed since Neji left to visit his uncle. To make matters worse for The Fifth Element, their concert was in two freaking hours! If Neji failed to show, they'd be forced to cancel.

* * *

"Neji, why aren't you eating?" Hiashi stood in Neji's doorway, staring down at his nephew lying on the floor.

"I'm not hungry..." Neji murmured.

"What the hell do you mean you're not hungry?" Hiashi cried.

"I'm not hungry..." Neji murmured again.

"You need to eat, Neji! You've barely eaten for two days!"

"Because I'm not hungry..."

"Get off the floor." Hiashi ordered. He grabbed Neji and attempted to pull him off the ground.

"LET GO!" Neji cried and flailed around until Hiashi let go.

"Neji, if you don't start eating and moving on with your life, I'm going to have to put you in a mental health home!" Hiashi cried.

"Fuck off. You've ruined my life enough."

Hiashi stared at his nephew. Neji had never used such language before.

"Just leave me alone." Neji told him. Neji yanked the covers off his bed and wrapped them around himself.

"God damn it, Neji, GET A GRIP!" Hiashi roared.

Neji didn't even react.

Hiashi grabbed the blankets that were wrapped around Neji.

"You get up now!" Hiashi growled.

Neji's fist flew up and connected with Hiashi's forehead.

Hiashi backed off. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Go ahead. Kill me for all I care." Neji told him. "Kill me, Hiashi. You have the power to do it."

Hiashi stared at his once depressed, now suicidal, nephew.

"What are you waiting for?" Neji said now glaring at Hiashi. "Kill me!"

"Why are you saying this, Neji?" Hiashi asked.

"There's no reason for me to live anymore." Neji muttered.

"All I made you do was quit that goddamned band, Neji! That's no reason for you to get suicidal! You can still pick up your life!"

"The life that I don't want!" Neji growled. "That band was everything to me! Why don't you get it?"

* * *

It was now the time The Fifth Element should be heading for the stage. But without Neji, they wouldn't be able to do anything even if they tried.

"Guys..." Hinata's faint voice broke the stressed silence of the room. "I have something I really should tell you..."

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"It's about... the Hyuuga clan..."

The group was staring at Hinata.

"The Hyuuga clan is divided into two parts, the main branch and the cadet branch... Neji is a member of the cadet branch... I'm a member of the main branch... Because Neji's a member of the cadet branch, he has a mark on his forehead, that's why he wears that headband all the time... The mark allows the main branch to control the members of the cadet branch at will."

"W-What?" Itachi gasped.

"W-Well... not exactly control them in that sense... It's a threat really... A member of the main branch can activate the mark and cause pain to the bearer of the mark... That's what allows them to control them... I know for a fact that Hiashi, Neji's uncle and the leader of the Hyuuga main branch, doesn't approve of this band..."

"Oh well, that explains it." Shikamaru muttered. "So Neji tries to defy what this Hiashi person says, Neji will get that mark on his forehead activated, and Neji pretty much has to bow down to whatever he says?"

Hinata nodded.

"That's just sick." Sasuke spat.

"We have to get him out of there... Don't cancel the concert until we officially can't get him out..." Hinata murmured.

"Shikamaru? Any plans?" Itachi asked.

Shikamaru put his fingertips together. The room was silent.

* * *

Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi and Shikamaru stood backstage.

"I hope this works..." Naruto murmured.

Itachi dialled Hinata's cell phone number.

_Hey, _Hinata's voice said.

"Hey. You remember the plan?"

_Yeah._

The lights went off on the football field. The entire group walked out all at once. The stage lights came on, and cheers erupted.

Itachi walked up to the microphone and raised his hand for silence. The crowd got his message immediately.

"I have grim news." Itachi said staring out at the crowd. "Unfortunately, Neji is MIA. We're trying to get him over here. We honestly hope it works."

* * *

Tenten listened to Itachi's voice through Hinata's cell phone. Her and Temari were hiding behind Hinata's backyard shed, a ladder by their side.

"How much longer?" Temari asked.

Tenten looked at her watch. "Ten seconds."

Tenten and Hinata had synchronized their watches before the plan began.

"Now." Tenten ordered.

Tenten and Temari lifted the ladder, extended it, and propped it up where Neji's window was. Temari held the ladder while Tenten climbed it.

Tenten gently tapped Neji's window. Eventually, a very depressed looking Neji moved the curtains aside.

His head went back in surprise.

_What the hell are you doing here?_

Tenten pointed to the window and made a lifting motion.

_Open the window._

Neji rolled his eyes, made slicing motions with his hands, and made the window opening motion.

_I can't._

Tenten raised an eyebrow.

_Why not?_

Neji made a locking motion with his hands.

_It's locked._

Tenten's jaw dropped

_What the hell?_

Neji turned and looked towards his door. Then he turned back with his brow furrowing and his thumb pointing towards the door.

_What's going on out there?_

Tenten pointed to herself, made a punching motion towards the window, pointed at Neji and pointed behind her.

_We're trying to break you out._

Neji's head went back in confusion again.

_You're doing what?_

Tenten made an air guitar motion.

_You have a concert._

Neji's face fell. The small flicker of light that had been in his eyes was extinguished. He shook his head sadly.

_I can't._

Tenten shook her head.

_You have to!_

Neji closed the curtains again.

"NEJI!" Tenten screamed. Then she spotted the latch on the outside of the door. She pulled it, and attempted to lift the window. It moved, but something stopped it.

Tenten tapped on the window again.

Neji reappeared.

Tenten pointed to the latch on his side of the window.

Neji rolled his eyes and shook his head. Then he flipped it, and turned away.

Tenten yanked the window upwards and the window opened.

Neji stared at her with shock.

"Well, that solves one problem." Tenten said with a grin.

Neji looked faintly at the door. Then he looked back at her.

"I can't go Tenten." Neji said faintly. "If I do..."

"Yeah yeah, he'll hurt you, and the whole shebang." Tenten rolled her eyes.

"He already has, Tenten." Neji told her.

Tenten saw it in his eyes. The pain of just remembering the whole experience was tormenting him.

Tenten lifted Hinata's cell phone to her ear.

"Itachi?"

_Yeah? How's it going?_

"I've found Neji... He doesn't want to come."

_NEJI YOU GET YOUR BLOODY ASS OVER HERE NOW! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR FREAKING UNCLE AND THAT DAMED MARK; YOU GET YOUR FREAKING ASS TO THE FOOTBALL FIELD!_

Itachi's voice tore from the phone, making Neji's eyes widen in shock.

"You told them?" Neji looked furious.

Tenten shook her head. "Hinata did."

"NEJI!" Hinata's voice pierced the air from the other side of Neji's door.

Neji stared at his door.

"Get out of here, Tenten." Neji ordered.

"NO!" Tenten cried.

Neji could tell that there was a fight going on outside his bedroom door.

_NEJI! NEJI! NEJI! NEJI!_ Cheering began to come out of Hinata's cell phone. Neji turned away from the door and stared at the phone.

It was the crowd where Itachi was. It was the crowd of all those fans of The Fifth Element. They had gathered to watch them play on the football field.

Neji felt as if the world was going in slow motion.

_BAM! _Neji's door opened with a crash.

Neji made up his mind. His eyes hardened.

"Move, Tenten," Neji ordered, turning towards the window.

Tenten began to climb down the ladder as Neji literally dove out the window, not even touching the ladder. He flipped over in mid air, fell two stories, landed on his feet, rolled and began to run.

"NEJI!" Hiashi roared. Hiashi disappeared from Neji's window.

"GO NEJI!" Tenten screamed as Neji leapt the garden fence and ran out onto the street.

"Itachi, Neji's running." Tenten said with a smile. "I repeat, Neji is running."

* * *

Neji ran faster than he had ever run in his life. His heart was pounding in his ears, and the air burned in his lungs. Neji could feel the tingling of adrenaline shooting through his body. He was unstoppable. He was going to play at that concert.

"NEJI!" Hiashi's voice hit him.

Neji immediately felt a burst of energy, and he sprinted ahead, a smile forming on his face. He felt as if he was in one of those epic action movies.

Neji suddenly realised that for some reason that pain wasn't returning to his head. As he thought those words, Neji felt pressure in his head.

_NO!_ Neji screamed to himself. He picked up his pace again, breathing evenly, focusing on the path ahead of him.

Neji decided to take a short cut, and dashed into an alleyway.

_Wait...that was a stupid decision, wasn't it?_ Neji thought. He smiled at the metallic crash that echoed around him as he leapt a chain link fence. A few moments later, he heard Hiashi jumping the fence.

Neji whipped around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks.

"No way!" Neji cried. It was a dead end.

Neji heard Hiashi stumbling to a stop, and his ragged breathing.

"Heh..." Hiashi laughed. "Game over, Neji."

Neji turned around, and stared at Hiashi. Regardless of his predicament, Neji wasn't scared. In fact, he wasn't even worried.

"Do your worst!" Neji challenged, standing up straighter and clenching his fists as he stared boldly into Hiashi's ice-cold eyes.

Hiashi gave Neji a crooked grin, and raised his hand up in front of him. Hiashi's hand formed a fist in which his index and middle fingers were upright and stared intensely at Neji.

Neji glared right back.

A second passed.

Two seconds passed.

Three seconds passed.

Four seconds passed.

Five seconds passed.

Neji raised his eyebrow. "What are you waiting for?" Neji challenged. "I told you to do your worst!"

Hiashi looked up at Neji, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Then his face scrunched up in fury.

Neji blinked at Hiashi. The pain never came.

Neji turned his head to the side and spotted a piece of a broken mirror on the ground. He saw his entire face in it. He reached behind his head and pulled the knot in his headband.

The headband fell down. Neji's eyes widened slightly.

Nothing... There was nothing...

_But HOW?_ Neji thought to himself.

Then it hit him. He grinned as he realized exactly what happened. It was willpower. Neji's will to resist his destiny had thwarted the very thing that had kept him back all his life.

Neji had defeated the curse mark. It was gone. The Hyuuga clan no longer trapped him. He was free.

Neji looked at Hiashi with a grin on his face.

Hiashi's eyes widened. Neji began walking towards Hiashi. Hiashi continued to stare at Neji.

"Sorry, uncle. I have a concert to get to." Neji said, and pushed past him.

"Like hell you do!" Hiashi cried, and immediately grabbed Neji's arm.

Neji swung his other arm and tried to hit Hiashi. Hiashi's free hand grabbed Neji's arm and deflected it. Hiashi's knee came up and connected with Neji's stomach.

Neji gagged and went limp for a moment. Before Hiashi could even taste victory, Neji flung his head up as fast as he could, and smiled in satisfaction when the back of it connected with Hiashi's face.

Hiashi's grip loosened and Neji pulled free. He took a few steps back and just as Hiashi stood up straight, Neji's foot flew straight at Hiashi and connected with his forehead.

Hiashi backed up. Neji took one last look at his uncle and ran from the alley. He jumped the fence. A rattle that he heard just as he rounded to corner back onto the street told him that Hiashi was after him again.

Neji kept running.

"NEJI!" Someone cried.

It was Tenten and she was in her car. Hinata was in the passenger seat, and she pushed the passenger door open and leapt into the back seat.

Neji didn't even hesitate to jump in the car.

"Go, go, go! He's coming!" Hinata cried from the back seat.

Neji doubled over in his seat and began to gasp as Tenten stepped on the gas.

"Are you okay, Neji?" Temari asked.

"No, I think I'm going to be sick." Neji replied weakly. His stomach hurt where Hiashi's knee had hit dead center.

"Eat something." Hinata said, holding half a sandwich out to him.

Neji stared at the sandwich and realized how starving he was. He took the sandwich gratefully and wolfed it down. He felt a little better after the food.

When they stopped at a stoplight, Neji heard pounding on his window. He turned his head to see Hiashi.

Neji grabbed the door handle, and shoved the door out towards his uncle. Hiashi fell to the pavement. The light turned green, and Tenten sped off again.

"We've got him on our tail, guys." Temari pointed out.

Neji turned his head to look out the back window and realized that Hiashi was hanging off the back of the car.

"Son of a bitch." Neji said with a smirk. "Swerve twice and we can get him off." Neji said to Tenten.

"I am not going to be charged with murder, Neji." Tenten said simply.

"Where are your shoes?" Temari asked suddenly.

Neji stared down at his socked feet. "I left them at the front door."

The car laughed.

"Here, Tennie has an extra pair!" Temari said, tossing a pair of running shoes to him.

"Those are my jogging shoes!" Tenten cried.

"Can I borrow them?" Neji asked as he stuffed his foot into one and realizing they fit perfectly. Luckily for him, they were just plain black and white, not a thread of pink in sight.

"Do they actually fit you?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, small world huh?"

The car laughed again.

"It's a small world after all," Temari began to sing.

"It's a small world after all," Tenten and Hinata joined in. "It's a small world after all,"

"It's a small, small world." Neji finished.

"Is that even how the song goes?" Temari asked with a laugh.

"I don't know." Neji replied. "I haven't watched a Disney movie for over ten years now."

"Touche!" Tenten cried.

"Is Chuck Norris still hanging on back there?" Neji asked turning around again. And indeed, Hiashi was still hanging off the back of the car. Neji suddenly grinned stupidly and waved at Hiashi.

Hiashi made a face of pure confusion, shock, and anger. The combination was enough to get the entire car howling with laughter. Even Tenten was laughing.

"Saw it in the rear-view mirror." Tenten laughed. "We're here!"

"Pull by the entrance, and I'll book it out of the car. Don't even stop, got it?" Neji ordered.

Tenten pulled into the parking lot and drove straight by the entrance, slowing down just slightly.

Neji cracked the door open and booked it out of the car, leaving the door open.

"HEY!" Hiashi cried, letting go of the back of the car, failing at the landing, so he fell on his face.

"OPEN THE GATE!" Neji cried at the security guard.

The security guard shined a flashlight on Neji.

"Neji Hyuuga?" The guard said with awe. "You actually showed up."

"OPEN THE GATE!" Neji cried, he glanced over his shoulder to see Hiashi gaining on him.

The guard opened the gate and Neji dove through. The gates closed behind him as Neji hunched over and gasped for air.

"Let me through!" Hiashi ordered the guard. "That's my nephew!"

"Do you have a ticket, sir?"

"Like hell I don't! Let me through!"

"Sorry. No ticket, no entry."

"I don't give a damn about your ticket rule! Let me through now!"

"Do we have to call the security office?"

Hiashi's face turned towards Neji who was staring at him through the gate. His face was twisted in fury.

"When you get out of there, you're dead." Hiashi growled.

Neji rolled his eyes and walked into the field. He was standing right behind the crowd. The field was completely dark, save for the stage at the other end. Neji could just make out Itachi, Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke sitting, standing, or in Itachi's case, pacing around the stage.

"Hey!"

Neji turned to see Tenten, Hinata and Temari standing beside him.

"I made it." Neji said with a grin.

"You made it." Tenten agreed.

"Neji, where's the mark?" Hinata asked suddenly.

Neji rubbed his forehead. "It disappeared while I was running away."

"You finally broke free." Hinata said with a smile.

"Yes I did."

"You'd better get going before Itachi has an aneurism." Temari said with a smile.

Neji smirked. "And I know just how to make my entrance. Hinata, can I borrow your phone?"

**A/N: Yay! Neji got away! I've always wanted to write a story where Hiashi was the antagonist! I've never liked Hiashi before. Then again, I couldn't think any better of Hizashi either, because Hizashi abandoned Neji so he could be free. I mean, you have a four-year-old son to think about Hizashi! Now why the hell did you abandon him for your own selfish reasons? Sorry. The only members of the Hyuuga clan that I actually like are Hinata and Neji. The rest of them make me sick. However, I couldn't account for Hanabi either, because I know nothing about Hanabi.**

**REVIEW!**

**SilverEyeShinobi**


	30. Chapter 30: Wings

**A/N: This is it, guys. The final chapter. Hopefully, I can make it a good ending! And now, I shall put names to The Fifth Elements songs.**

Chapter 30: Wings

Neji took Hinata's phone and flipped it open. He dialled Itachi's number.

_Hello? _Itachi's voice came through the phone.

"Itachi?" Neji asked, staring up at the stage.

_Neji? Did you get away? Where are you?_

"Yes, I got away." Neji said with a grin. "As for where I am..."

_Where are you Neji? We're waiting for you!_

"There is a sea in front of me, though backs are all I see. If you look over yonder, I'm sure you will not ponder, for here I stand." Neji paused "where the sea meets the land."

Itachi didn't respond at first. _Damn you and your riddles._ Itachi growled.

"Turn on the field lights Itachi." Neji said simply.

_You're at the back of the crowd aren't you?_

"Yes."

The phone went dead.

"YO! TECH GUY! TURN OFF THE STAGE LIGHTS AND TURN ON THE FIELD LIGHTS!" Itachi's amplified voice echoed through the stadium.

A few moments later, the stage went dark, and the field lit up. Neji could see Itachi trying to see through the lights. The crowd began to catch on. The people in the front row began to turn around, followed by the people behind them, and so on.

Neji handed the phone back to Hinata. He saw the crowd turning around. Neji simply stood there with a smile on his face.

Finally, the last few rows turned around.

"OH MY GOD!" They screamed and they immediately stormed Neji, pelting him with hugs.

"All right all right! Away with you! Away!" Neji laughed, waving the crowd off. The crowd listened to him and backed off, but that didn't stop them from cheering.

Neji began to run towards the stage, slapping as many high fives along the way as he could. When he reached the stage, Neji jumped up, and pulled himself onto the stage, only to be bombarded with more hugs from his band.

"Dude, I thought you'd never show up!" Naruto cried.

"I'm here, relax!" Neji said with a laugh.

"Where's your uncle?" Shikamaru asked.

"He's holed up at the gate." Neji replied with a smirk.

The group laughed.

"Shall we rock this taco stand, or what?" Sasuke asked.

"Taco stand?" Neji asked with a laugh.

"First song?" Shikamaru asked.

The group grinned at each other.

"_Pop Rocks_." Naruto said with a grin.

"_Pop Rocks_?" Neji laughed. "Out of all the songs you could've picked, you had to pick the one named after the carbon-dioxide processed candy."

"It's gotta be _Pop Rocks_." Shikamaru chuckled.

"Well then _Pop Rocks_ it is." Neji chuckled.

The group disbanded, and walked to their stations.

"ARE YOU READY?" Neji screamed into his microphone, earning him the loudest cheer he had ever heard.

* * *

Hiashi stood at the gate to the football field. He had cringed when Neji's voice reached his ears. He began to twitch when the upbeat guitar began to play.

* * *

Shikamaru kept the beat. Moments later, Itachi joined in along with Sasuke's bass line and Naruto's simple drum rhythm. The random mix of music was last heard at Konoha's Wonderland. Neji added his voice to the music, watching the crowd bounce in time with the beat that the music was created to hold.

Itachi threw in his two-second solo. The band cried "Pop Rocks" and the chorus began. Itachi joined in harmony ever so often, but other than that, Neji had the whole chorus. He sang the final words of the chorus, and Naruto pounded out a solo. Neji returned to the very fast, very tongue twister like to the poor saps who did not write the song in the first place, rhythm of the verses.

* * *

At the gate, Hiashi was leaning up against a wall, frowning at the impossible to understand lyrics that his nephew was singing.

* * *

"POP ROCKS!" The band cried after Shikamaru's guitar screech. Neji could have sworn the crowd joined in that time. Even as he sung the chorus, Neji could faintly hear the crowd singing along with him. When Neji finished the chorus, he held the final note for as long as he could. Then he stepped back as Sasuke stepped forward and soloed out on his bass. Thirty seconds later, Sasuke stepped back to allow Shikamaru to solo out for his thirty seconds. Shikamaru then stepped back to allow full view of Naruto pounding on his drums in an epic solo that simply never got boring, and always held the full rhythm of the song. Finally, Itachi stepped forward and performed all those trills, bends, and chords that made him famous. Itachi held his final note and moments later, the group played their final note to end the song.

The crowd roared.

* * *

Hiashi just about jumped out of his socks at the tremendous sound of the crowd. How many people were there in that freaking stadium?

"Hey, guard." Hiashi said to the guard. "How many people are in there?"

"Minimum, one thousand." The guard said simply.

"One thousand?" Hiashi was stunned. "You've got to be kidding me."

"That boy you were chasing...your nephew apparently..." The guard continued. "He's famous around here. Everybody knows his name. 'Neji Hyuuga' has been a house hold name ever since they first appeared."  
"How do you know that?"

"Because my daughter loves him." The guard said simply.

"That's a freaky thought."

* * *

The crowd continued to roar. The group met in the middle for a high five.

"Dude, we totally rocked the taco stand." Itachi chuckled.

"We destroyed the taco stand, Itachi." Shikamaru pointed out.

"Let's give them another song before we joke around a bit." Neji said with a grin.

"What song?" Naruto asked.

The group went silent for a moment.

"Let's ask the crowd." Neji said with a smirk.

"Good idea!" Sasuke said.

Neji walked up to his mic. "Hey," Neji said to get everyone's attention. "We're stuck on what song to play. So help us out. I'm going to count to three, and when I get to three, I want all of you to scream the song you want to hear. The one that sticks out the most, we'll play."

The crowd roared again.

"READY?" Neji called. "ONE, TWO, THREE!"

Neji turned his ear towards the crowd. One song really did stick out over all the others.

"I think that was pretty obvious." Naruto laughed. "Even I heard that one."

"_Rise_," The group said at the same time, nodding to each other.

"Goodie." Neji said with a grin. "This one will make Hiashi have an aneurism." Indeed, it was the loud one they wrote, and played at the contest they won at, and played on _The Ino Show_.

Naruto clacked his drumsticks together, and Itachi and Shikamaru shredded their guitars. The crowd roared.

* * *

Hiashi listened to the latest song that Neji's band was playing. Hiashi had no idea that Neji could sing so goddamned loudly and still sing in tune.

"Who are these guys?" Someone said with awe.

"I don't know, but that boy sure can sing." Came a reply.

"I know who that is! That's my nii-san!" A little boy with messy brown hair cried.

"Kiba! Don't say such things!" A stern voice said.

"But it is! It is! It's Neji-san! I met him at the hospital!" Hiashi looked at the spiky-haired little boy. Since when did Neji like kids? He never seemed to like Hanabi much.

Hiashi sat against the wall as he listened to a very loud guitar solo. Still, he could hear the crowds cheering even over all the music. The crowd loved it. He listened as Neji joined in again moments later. He was awed when he heard the crowd singing along with him.

"My god, Neji..." Hiashi said with shock. "How the hell did you accomplish this right under my nose?"

The security guard laughed at Hiashi.

The little boy suddenly tore off right through the gate before anybody could register what had happened.

"KIBA!" The boy's grandma cried.

* * *

"You guys are AWESOME!" Neji cried into the microphone, earning him an enormous cheer. But one cheer stood out over them all.

"NII-SAN! NII-SAN!" A childish voice cried. Only one person in the entire great land of Konoha called him that. Neji narrowed his eyes to see a child's figure tearing across the VIP pathway towards the stage.

Neji walked away from the mic with a smile on his face. He ran down the stairs of the stage and popped out in the same path as Kiba was.

"Nii-san!" Kiba said happily.

"Hey, Kiba!" Neji said with a grin and picked Kiba off the ground and onto his shoulders. "Wanna come on stage with me?"

"YEAH!" Kiba cried.

Neji walked up onto the stage with Kiba on his shoulders. The crowd cheered.

"Hey, guys I want you to meet Kiba! He's my self-proclaimed adopted brother." Neji said with a grin.

The crowd cheered again.

"Hey! Nii-san! I can sing too! Wanna hear?" Kiba asked.

Neji chuckled. "Let's hear it."

"_On top of spaghetti,_

_All covered in cheese,"_ Kiba began. The Fifth Element joined in.

_I lost my poor meatball,_

_When somebody sneezed,_

At that moment, the crowd began to join in.

_It rolled on the table_

_It rolled on the floor,_

_And then my poor meatball,_

_Rolled out of the door._

That was where the song usually ended, but no. Naruto just had to keep going with his own version.

_It rolled through the garden,_

_It rolled through the bush,_

_And then my poor meatball,_

_Was nothing but mush._

To everyone's dismay, he kept going.

_Somebody found it,_

_And put it on bread,_ the group as well as the crowd laughed.

_And then my poor meatball,_

_Turned out to be dead._

Naruto finally finished, earning him cheers from the crowd.

"All right, Kiba. I think you should go back now." Neji said.

"Hey, nii-san?"

"Yes?"  
"Can we play Star Wars again sometime?"

The crowd howled with laughter.

"Yes we can play Star Wars again sometime." Neji replied. "Like right now!" Neji pulled Kiba off his shoulders and proceeded to piggyback him. "I'm your star ship, controlled by R2-D2. You have no control, you're going home."

"Aw!" Kiba whined.

Neji ran off the stage while Kiba made spaceship noises with his arms extended like wings as Neji ran towards the gate. Neji felt the crowd's amusement as he ran by. The guard opened the gate as Neji approached. Neji put Kiba down, and Kiba immediately ran to his grandma.

"Bye nii-san!" Kiba called.

"Bye," Neji called and ran back towards the stage.

* * *

There was only one thing Hiashi could think about at that moment as he watched Neji run back towards the stage. _Who are you, and what have you done with my nephew?_

Neji had thrown a fit every time Hanabi sang _On Top of Spaghetti_. So why on earth did he let a kid like that sing _On Top of Spaghetti_, and sing along with it? And playing Star Wars? That was definitely not something the Neji he knew would do.

Hinata wasn't kidding when she said that the band changed him. The band had more than changed him. The band had recreated him.

* * *

Neji got back on the stage and walked over to the group.

"What next?" he asked.

"We'll play the fan favourite." Sasuke replied.

"Which one is that?" Neji asked.

"_Just Stay._"

Neji snorted. "Yeah of course that would be the fan favourite."

The band went to their places, and Shikamaru began playing the first few notes. The crowd immediately roared, and died down almost immediately. Itachi began to play his part. As Neji began to sing, he spotted several cell phones and lighters in the air, swaying back and forth in sync with each other.

* * *

Hiashi watched the glowing lights in the crowd sway back and forth. It was almost amusing. It would be amusing if it weren't so annoying.

* * *

On the stage, Neji was grinning on the inside while he listened to the crowd sing along with him during the chorus. He was so tempted to just stop singing and hold the microphone out to the crowd to see what they would do. Neji sang the verse with a plan just to do that. He began the chorus, and sang the first three lines. Then he held the mic out to the crowd, and grinned as they chorused "Just Stay" and kept going.

Neji looked back to Itachi who was grinning himself. Neji pulled the mic back towards himself, and sang the bridge to the song. He made it twice as epic as it was the first time he sung it due to his really good mood. Finally, he sang the final chorus that literally wrapped up the song and gave it a happy ending.

The band played their final notes, and looked around at the cheering crowd. Neji could swear that some of the people in the front row were actually crying.

The band met in the middle of the stage again.

"Neji, you warn me before you do that again, you got it?" Itachi said, his face bright red.

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed. "You made the crowd bawl their eyes out, and you almost made me do the same thing."

Neji laughed. "Sorry."

"You could feel it right here." Naruto pounded his chest with his fist.

Neji laughed again.

"We're not going to change the song again." Shikamaru added. "That's definitely the final version."

* * *

Hiashi sat against that wall as he'd been doing for the last hour or so, his mind reeling. What the hell was he going to do about Neji? He now realized that Neji was completely famous, and he knew that Hinata was completely right. The band had changed Neji. Not only that, but Neji seriously had a talent. Why hadn't he seen it? I mean, Neji had taken enough music courses through high school. Now that he thought about it, Neji had taken vocals as well. So why didn't he realize that Neji had a talent earlier?

Then it hit him.

Never once had he attended the various concerts Neji had taken part in with the school. Hiashi now felt like crap.

* * *

The concert continued for another half hour. When it was over, the band went into the back and prepared themselves for signing autographs for the rest of the night. Neji got the opportunity to sign three t-shirts, get countless photographs of him with various people, and sign even more photographs of the group in his designated spot.

"Was that the last one?" Sasuke asked, rubbing his wrist. Sasuke had been going into his bad mood gradually as more and more people came backstage.

"Yes." Itachi said with finality.

Sasuke sighed, and let his head fall to the table with a sharp _thunk._

Neji was silent. He thought about what Hiashi would do to him now that the concert was over. He didn't have to wait long to figure out, as Hiashi had just walked into the backstage area.

"How did you get in here?" Neji blurted out suddenly.

"Forget it." Hiashi said simply.

To Neji's surprise, the band stepped between him and Hiashi all at once.

"If you're here to take Neji back, you'll have to get through all four of us." Shikamaru said in a monotone.

Itachi, Naruto and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

Neji stared at the backs of his friends, and smiled. He heard Hiashi laugh.

"I don't want to fight."

"Well, that's just too bad!" Naruto growled.

"Don't lose your head, Naruto." Sasuke growled at Naruto.

"I'm not even here to take Neji back."

Neji looked at the backs of his friends with shock as if he was trying to see through their backs and look at Hiashi. Did he really just say that?

Hiashi chuckled. "How can I compete?"

Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi and Shikamaru turned and looked at Neji with questioning looks. Neji shrugged at them.

"Do what you want, Neji." Hiashi finally said. Neji saw Hiashi turn and start walking towards the exit.

Neji stared at Hiashi's retreating back. He didn't know why he did it, but he jumped up and ran towards the exit.

"That's it?" Neji said from the top of the stairs that lead to the ground.

Hiashi turned. "What more do you want me to say?"

Neji didn't know. He just stood there like an idiot.

"I couldn't tie you down even if I tried." Hiashi stuck his hands in his pockets. "Your father was the same way. Always getting yelled at when he was young."

Neji continued to stare at Hiashi.

"Besides, you've already gone too far. There's no pulling you away even if I tried." Hiashi smirked. "Your fans wouldn't hear of it."

Neji turned his head towards the ground as he grinned to himself.

"Just don't do anything stupid enough to get you on one of those celebrity gossip shows," Hiashi said with finality. He turned and continued to walk away.

Neji stood there, inexplicably tongue-tied. He stood there for several seconds.

"Thank you." He finally said.

Hiashi glanced back at him and merely waved. Then he disappeared into the night.

"Are you all right Neji?" Itachi asked.

Neji nodded.

"So I guess you're staying?" Sasuke said with a raised eyebrow.

Neji's mouth opened but no sound came out. Hiashi's words were still sinking in. A few seconds later, they finally registered in his brain.

Neji grinned. "I'm staying."

"YEAH!" Naruto cried, raising his hand. The group high fived. Then they broke up.

"To the band!" Shikamaru cried and put his hand in the middle.

Itachi slapped his hand on top of Shikamaru's hand, followed by Sasuke, Naruto then Neji.

The band broke into their cheer, lead by Shikamaru as usual. "WHEN I SAY GO, YOU SAY FIGHT! GO!"

"FIGHT!"  
"GO!"

"FIGHT!"

"WHEN I SAY WIN YOU SAY TONIGHT! WIN!"

"TONIGHT!"

"WIN!"

"TONIGHT!"

"WHEN I SAY BOOGIE, YOU SAY DOWN! BOOGIE!"

"DOWN!"

"BOOGIE!"

"DOWN!"

Then they sang while clapping in time with the song. "Go, fight win tonight, let's boogie on down, all right, all right. Go, fight win tonight, let's boogie on down, all right, all right YEAH!"

**A/N: There is a Sequel by the title of The Fifth Element: On Tour. Read if you oh so desire.**

**Here's a summary of The Fifth Element's songs. The three that appeared throughout this story appeared in this chapter:**

_**Pop Rocks:**_ **This song is a rock song with a rapid beat...Like Pop rocks in your mouth! It's lyrics are based mostly around the actual song. Literally. Have you heard a song written completely about a song before? Here's an example: **_**Old Time Rock n' Roll**_** by Bob Seger. The song is sung about Rock n' Roll, with Rock n' Roll elements. It's hard to explain what I imagined **_**Pop Rocks**_** to be about. Just think of Pop rocks, and you'll get it... sort of... Appears in Chapter 6: Wonderland.**

_**Rise:**_** Imagine sweet guitar meshed with epic rhythm, and a catchy melody (Sound a lot like SIGN but oh well) that is somewhat like SIGN but watered down just slightly, with English lyrics, and you've got the basic idea of what **_**Rise**_** sounds like. I've always seemed to imagine the lyrics to be about rising above the challenges you face while on the road of life. Hence the reason it's called **_**Rise.**_** Appears in Chapter 14: Competition and Chapter 17: Interview.**

_**Just Stay:**_** What do you think the title says about the song? It's not about love. It's about tragedy, and friendship. If you were to just listen to the song and not know a darn thing about what the lyrics were about, you would probably think it was about love, grab your boyfriend or girlfriend and slow dance with them. Appears in Chapter 1: Phase, and Chapter 3: Concert. It's the first song that Tenten listened to, and got her into The Fifth Element. Reread the story for more details :).**


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